


You and me; we can take the world

by Abbypd



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Art major Michael, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Violence, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, It's really just another wedding AU, M/M, Music major Ashton, Past Abuse, Past Violence, Smut, trigger warning maybe?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-01 08:46:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 47,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8617423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbypd/pseuds/Abbypd
Summary: “That’s actually not a very bad idea.”“I know” Michael smirked without taking his eyes of the essay he was currently working on.“Do you think she’ll believe it?” Ashton questioned uncertainly.“I mean, she’ll probably want me to take him with me and I would have to come up with some sorry excuse and-““I’ll be your boyfriend” his roommate interrupted him.“What?”“I’ll be your boyfriend” he repeated.“I’ll go to the wedding with you, hold your hand, tell everyone how amazing and talented you are and that I was in love with you the moment you tripped over our threshold.”..Or yet another Wedding AU nobody asked for but I decided to write anyway.





	1. Chapter 1

###  Friday, August 16th

_“Hi honey”_

“Hi mum” Ashton said, fighting the urge to sigh since he already knew what this was going to be about. His mother hadn’t really talked about anything else for the last four months or so.

_“Did you receive your invitation yet?”_

The blonde looked down at the small, white card in his hands. It had beautiful golden, cursive letters on it, telling him that he was invited to his cousin’s wedding.

“Yeah” he mumbled, his eyes taking in the slightly smaller letters which read the names of his cousin and his girlfriend. He was happy for them; he really was. He just didn’t fancy going to their wedding, was all.

 _“Aunt Liz is over the moon; she doesn’t really talk about anything but the wedding. Oh, and did you know Lauren is going to be a bridesmaid yet?”_ his mother rambled on.

 “Mum, you’ve seriously told me this ten times already…”

“ _Oh, I’m sorry baby; I am just really excited…”_

 _“_ Yeah, I know.”

 

Suddenly, the blonde heard keys jiggling and the front door of his and his roommate’s apartment opening. He turned his head to watch Michael walking into the room, carrying not only his backpack but also his enormous portfolio case. He dropped it to the floor next to the coat rack with a sight and made a bee-line for the refrigerator, grabbing two beers and then sitting down next to Ashton. He handed the older boy his bottle without saying anything and the blonde nodded at him as to say ‘thank you’.

 

“ _The wedding is during your autumn break, so I’m assuming you’re coming home for the duration of the entire week?”_ his mother went on, obviously not knowing someone had joined her son.

“I don’t know mum; I think I’ll stay here for two or three days to work on school a bit…”

 _“Oh, okay”_ Anne Marie said, obviously sounding a little disappointed.

“I’m sorry, but school’s quite hectic at the moment and-“

“ _It’s okay dear, I understand. I just hoped you’d spend some more time with us, is all. I mean, we haven’t seen you since summer break…”_

And, yeah, of course his mother would go on the guilt trip. So Ashton sighed again, feeling Michael’s curious – and maybe slightly amused – eyes on him.

“I’m sorry; you’ll be seeing more of me once I’m graduated. I just really need to focus on school right now.”

“ _I know, baby”_ his mother cooed.

“ _Oh, and guess who the best man will be?”_

“I don’t know… Who?” Ashton asked instead of actually guessing. He wasn’t all that interested, if he was being honest.

“ _Ethan!”_

And at the sound of that name, Ashton’s heart just _sank_.

“Oh” was all he knew to say. It was like his entire brain shut down, his lungs didn’t remember how to properly breathe anymore.

“ _He said he can’t wait to see you again. It really is a shame that the two of you broke up; you are perfect for each other!”_

Ashton tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. He had never told his mother the reason of their split, and he probably never would.

“Yeah” he mumbled, looking around while thinking of an excuse to hang up.

“I gotta go mum, I’ve got to be at work in ten minutes” he lied easily.

“ _Okay. Bye baby. I love you.”_

“Love you too.”

And with that, he ended the call and threw his phone next to him on the couch, not looking where it landed as if the device had just personally offended him.

 

“I didn’t know you had to work tonight?” Michael said, looking a little confused.

“It was a lie” the blonde shrugged, not meeting the blue haired boy’s eyes.

He took a large sip of his beer and then started fiddling with the stickers on his green bottle.

“So what was that all about?” his roommate wanted to know, kicking his feet up to rest them on top of the coffee table. He had almost finished his drink already.

“My cousin’s getting married during autumn break.”

“And now your mum wants to guilt you into going home for the entire duration of your break?” Michael guessed right away, smirking at the older boy.

‘Yeah” Ashton sighed.

“She sounded so disappointed.”

“I think she should be glad you’re coming home at all” it was Michael’s turn to shrug.

This caused the blonde to look at his roommate curiously. The two boys had only known each other for one month now, ever since they had moved in together and thus didn’t know each other that well yet.

 

The two boys had found each other on a site that helped you find suitable roommates – since they both had very bad experiences with their previous ones - and they had lived together ever since. They got along just fine, but didn’t consider the other a good friend _yet_ , which obviously wasn’t all that weird after only four weeks.

Ashton was determined to change that though, for he thought Michael was a really funny, nice and talented guy and maybe, just _maybe_ , he was extremely attracted to the art major.

 

Once the blue haired boy noticed the look on the older boy’s face, he started to explain.

“My parents work a lot. They travel around the world and are never home. When I just started uni, they tried to be home during my breaks. The second year, I only saw them three times; over skype on my birthday, during Christmas and when we went to Curacao during the summer break. And now I am not going home at all anymore. It’s not worth the effort…”

“I’m so sorry Michael.”

“Nah, it’s okay; I never got along with them anyways” the art major shrugged once again.

‘Still.”

Ashton did understand though. He hadn’t seen his father in _years_ but he wasn’t too sad about that either. If his dad didn’t want him, than Ashton didn’t need him. Sometimes life was like that

 

“But why did you tell your mother you had to go to work?” Michael asked curiously, getting up to get two new bottles of beer even though Ashton hadn’t even finished half of his yet.

“My ex is going to be the best man and she wants me to take him back” the music major grimaced, causing Michael to chuckle.

“I swear; those few days are going to be the death of me” Ashton whined pitifully, sinking back into the couch and downing a large gulp of his beer.

“It can’t be that bad.”

Ashton sighed; if only Michael knew.

 

### ***

 

After the two students had eaten the meal Ashton had prepared for them, Ashton sat behind his desk to work on a song he was writing for a school assignment while Michael drew at the dining table.

The eldest had bought a plastic tablecloth after only four days of living with an art major so their wooden table wouldn’t get any more paint and charcoal stains on it.

It had been a boring yellow and white one once, but was now covered in little drawings and art works. Michael had a habit of turning every stain and every mistake into something beautiful and maybe that was what Ashton liked most about him.

The eldest was sure they could sell the tablecloth once it was full and people would look at it in a museum, wondering what the random pieces of art had in common. Only him and Michael would know that their only similarity was that they all had been an accident once.

 

The music major was mindlessly strumming his chords and humming a random melody, watching Michael as he had his brows furrowed in concentration, his mouth slightly agape. He was currently working on a ‘modern renaissance’ project, where he’d turn a contemporary scene into a renaissance painting. He was still working on the sketch, figuring out what he wanted his painting to look like eventually before working on a huge canvas.

He’d been working on it ever since school had started, and he was almost done with the sketch. He was just finishing up colouring it all in, making it look absolutely perfect.

Ashton knew the blue haired boy was a perfectionist, and didn’t really stop until he was completely satisfied or the deadline had been reached. The latter happened more often than not.

 

Suddenly the art major turned around, looking right into Ashton’s eyes. The eldest felt a little caught.

“Dude, that sounded _sick!”_ Michael beamed enthusiastically.

Ashton furrowed his brows; he had no idea what he had just been playing. Luckily, he recorded all his song writing sessions so nothing would be lost. He had the tendency to play for an hour or two without writing anything down, since that would disturb the flow he had going.

“Uh, thanks” the blonde smiled sheepishly, hoping his roommate hadn’t noticed his confusion.

 

“What’s the song about?” Michael asked while turning back to his drawing. Ashton smiled; the blue haired boy was his first roommate – and maybe even the first human being who wasn’t his mother – who was genuinely interested in his music. His last three roommates only addressed it whenever they wanted it to stop, and thus Ashton was so damn thankful for Michael.

“I’m not sure yet. I always write the music first and then the lyrics…” Ashton explained, his hand still strumming his guitar. He was trying out some other chords to make the song a bit more interesting.

“Huh? I always thought it worked the other way around?” Michael said, his eyes and concentration never leaving his sketch.

“Maybe that’s how other people do it, but not me. If I write happy lyrics and then don’t feel happy to write a happy melody, it doesn’t work out. But when I play a happy melody, I automatically write happy lyrics. It just works for me, I guess” Ashton shrugged.

Michael smiled down at his drawing.

“Makes sense.”

 

###  ***

 

“Do you want to watch another episode of ‘Stranger Things’ before we go to bed?” Ashton asked while he put his guitar away and made sure his recorder was turned off. He already made his way towards the kitchen to grab two bottles of beer, because Michael never really said no to being lazy and watching shows.

“Yeah, in a sec; I’m almost done” the younger boy mumbled, his hand moving over the paper smoothly. Ashton placed the two bottles on the coffee table and then walked back to Michael, watching him work from over his shoulder. The art major never really liked it when people did that, but he didn’t complain this time.

“Oh my god, Mike. It looks beautiful!” Ashton said, genuinely impressed. He had seen his roommate’s works before, and he had known he was talented from their very first day of living together; this drawing really was something else though. Ashton couldn’t wait to see it on a big ass canvas.

“Thank you.”

Michael didn’t say anything for another minute or two and Ashton just watched him work in silence, not caring their beer was getting warm at all.

 

“All done” the art major exclaimed then, sounding pleased with his work.

“It’s gorgeous” Ashton told him, needing to make sure Michael knew how amazing he was.

“Thank you” he repeated, blushing a little bit.

“You’re in it too, you know” he said, his cheeks going redder rapidly.

“Seriously? Where?” the eldest wondered. He had paid most attention to the big picture instead of the individual figures in it.

“Right there” Michael said, pointing at a blonde boy who looked _just_ like Ashton with an electric guitar in his hands. He was seated on the bottom of a marble staircase, staring into a random direction like all other characters in the painting. Only the man in the middle was looking at the beholder of the drawing.

“I love it” Ashton told his roommate truthfully.

“Thanks. So, ‘Stranger Things’?”


	2. Chapter 2

### Wednesday, August 31st

 “Do I _really_ have to wear a suit?” Ashton groaned into his phone, throwing his head back and staring up at the ceiling. Next to him, Michael chuckled lowly.

 _“It’s a wedding honey._ Of course _you have to wear a suit!”_ his mother argued with him, causing the blonde to groan again.

“I could wear trousers and a dress shirt too…” he shot back stubbornly, swearing to himself he’d be wearing exactly that no matter what his mother said.

“ _Your cousin only gets married once, Ash. I don’t understand why you have to make a big deal out of literally everything.”_

The blonde boy grumbled something inaudible, rolling his eyes at no one in particular.

“You should be happy I am coming at all…”

“ _This isn’t about Ethan, is it?”_ his mother sighed.

“Of course it is!”

“ _I don’t understand, he’s such a nice boy.”_

Ashton gritted his teeth in silence, his jaw tensing. He hoped Michael hadn’t seen it.

“I broke up with him for a reason.”

_“Still, I don’t understand. But maybe you’ll change your mind when you see him again at the wedding baby.”_

The blonde knew he wouldn’t.

“Whatever. I gotta go mum. Talk to you later” and with that, he hang up, leaving his mother no time to say bye to him properly.

 

“I’m gonna go to the store, need anything?” he asked as he got up, needing an excuse to leave the apartment for a bit. Michael looked at him with his brows furrowed in confusion; he had done groceries that afternoon, right after class.

“No, thanks.”

“Okay” and with that, Ashton was gone.

 

The blonde boy walked around campus for a while, his music blasting through his earphones and hurting his ears. It was the best way to drown out his loud thoughts though, so it Ashton refused to turn the volume down.

He wandered into a coffee shop after a while, drinking a coffee which he didn’t even like and then decided it would be better to get back, since he had quite some schoolwork left to do.

 

Michael didn’t say anything about the fact he hadn’t bought any groceries at all when he came back, which Ashton was grateful for.

So he made a beeline for his bedroom, grabbed his guitar and sat down on top of his bed, his legs folded underneath him. He usually made his homework in the living room since it was better with Michael being so close, despite them barely talking while they were working. Ashton didn’t need the blue haired boy to hear his thoughts shift into a song right now though.

He put his recorder on and just started playing, letting his hands and voice take over his brains. He played and played until his throat and fingers were starting to hurt and the words wouldn’t come anymore.

 

Just as he put his instrument down, a knock on the door was heard.

Michael didn’t wait for an answer, just slowly pushed open the door and came in.

“Hey” he simply said, looking at Ashton.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing” Ashton sighed. They both knew it was a lie.

“You can tell me” Michael offered kindly, not yet familiar enough with Ashton to simply force him to spill.

“It’s the wedding” the music major all but whined, feeling stupid for making such a big deal out of it.

“What about it?” Michael wanted to know, sitting down next to his roommate.

“My ex is gonna be there.”

“Ah” the art major said, smirking a little.

“Is you’re mother still trying to convince you to take him back?”

“Yeah” Ashton admitted, trying to hide how much that actually hurt him.

“She won’t stop talking about him and it’s annoying.”

Michael chuckled a little.

“Just tell her you two are never, ever, ever getting back together.”

“Did you just seriously quote a Taylor Swift song to me?” Ashton asked incredulously, starting to giggle too.

“Yeah” the youngest shrugged.

“Did it work?”

“No” Ashton lied, still smiling like crazy.

 

“Come on; it’s time for Netflix and chill” the art major said, getting up and walking out of Ashton’s room, trusting the older boy would follow him.

The blonde sat down while Michael grabbed two beers and a bowl of popcorn from the kitchen and then sat down next to him, throwing his arm around Ashton’s shoulder, pulling him in. They had never cuddled before but the blonde was not going to question it. He could use a little comfort right now.

So he shifted around until he was comfortable, his back resting against Michael’s side a bit and his head on the younger boy’s shoulder.

“Stop moving” Michael complained tiredly, without any heat behind it, as Ashton reached for his bottle of beer.

“Sorry” Ashton giggled a little.

Then the two roommates settled into a peaceful silence and watched their favourite show while eating too much popcorn. And as always, they ended up watching three episodes instead of one, going to bed way later than planned.

It was alright though; Ashton wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

### ***

### Saturday, September 3rd

 

When Saturday morning finally rolled around, Ashton spent most of it in his bed.

 

Michael had been trying to teach him to play FiFa the night before, despite the blonde telling him he wasn’t interested _at all_.

It had been sorta fun for about ten minutes and then Ashton had started to complain. And so they had watched High School Musical one and two, simply because they had seen it in their Netflix recommendation list.

Since Ashton had done the first movie as a school play in high school and because he had younger siblings, he knew all the lyrics by heart. Michael, on the other hand, had been bawling the wrong words without a care in the world and the two of them had dramatically danced around their apartment. It had been so much better than any college party could have been and Ashton was truly thankful for a roommate like Michael.

 

Now though - thanks to all the beers - he was quite hangover and not very excited to leave his house, let alone his bed.

His roommate seemed to agree with him, for Ashton couldn’t hear any movement in their apartment at all. He was glad of it though.

 

When his stomach started to growl an hour or two later, he finally pushed the blankets off of him, went to the bathroom and then made his way into their shared kitchen.

He poured himself a bowl of cereal and scrolled through his twitter timeline while eating his (very) late breakfast.

The art major joined him about fifteen minutes later, eating a bowl of cereal as well since he didn’t really know how to cook.

 

“What do you want to do today?” the eldest asked Michael, his eyes still sleep deprived and his blue hair sticking into all sorts of directions. Ashton couldn’t help but think it looked _cute_.

Michael shrugged.

“There’s a new art exhibition in the museum and I kinda wanted to go.”

“I’ll come with you” Ashton announced easily.

Michael looked up at him though, his expression unreadable.

“If you want me to, I mean…” the eldest mumbled shyly, his cheeks heating up right away.

“No – yeah – of course I want you to” the art major smiled, looking away when Ashton looked up at him. Ashton couldn’t help but feel the butterflies multiplying in his stomach, just by the thought of going on an unofficial date with his roommate. They never really went out together, since they both liked to spend their time inside of their apartment.

Ashton was excited to change that though.

 

As soon as they had finished their cereal and the dishes had been done – by Ashton, as always – the boys got ready to leave.

The blonde decided to go with his dark grey skinnies with holes in them and black converse, a black band shirt and a sleeveless denim jacket. He also decided to wear a red banana, making him look like an art major himself. He didn’t wear banana’s that often anymore and he hoped Michael wouldn’t think he was trying too hard.

When the boy stepped outside of his bedroom, Michael was already waiting for him.

He was wearing denim skinnies with plaid patches sewn to them combined with black combat boots, a simple black shirt on top of it and a black snapback on top of his blue hair. He looked absolutely stunning and Ashton couldn’t help but stare.

“You look good” his mouth said without his brain telling it to.

“Thanks. You too” Michael winked at him, causing Ashton to smile down at his own feet.

“Let’s go” the blue haired boy said, turning towards the door. The blonde quickly followed him.

 

“What kind of exhibition is it anyways?” Ashton asked curiously as they walked. Michael had said it wasn’t too far away so there was no need to take a cab. They had stopped at the coffee shop to get them something to drink and Michael was currently lighting his first cigarette of the day.

Ashton didn’t like that he smoked, but he was glad he never did it inside; he said it made him feel like the smoke never left his lungs and so he always went outside.

“It’s called ‘ _Protest!_ ’” Michael started to explain.

“It’s about the nature of protesting, but also makes you think about human rights. World War two, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, LGBT+ rights, the migration crisis and all kinds of stuff are all represented.

It’s portrayed through paintings, photographs, sculptures and short films.”

“Sounds really interesting” Ashton replied honestly. Michael simply nodded, taking another drag from his cigarette.

 

The art major barely even managed to finish his cigarette before they reached their destination. Ashton went in first, followed by the blue haired boy, and bought them two tickets.

The very first artwork they saw was a huge canvas which showed men from the working class back in the twentieth century, holding candles and a sign that read ‘Nazis murder Jews’. Behind them, people were holding the Soviet Union flags and to the viewers of the painting, it wasn’t clear whether they were supporting it or protesting it.

To Ashton, it was just an impressive painting. To Michael, it apparently was way more than that.  The boy started to explain about the lighting and colour combination and other art stuff Ashton didn’t know anything about.

He listened carefully though, finding it quite interesting.

 

They moved from one room to the next.

 

The second room was filled with sculptures, the protesters on one side and the police on the other. It was impressive to be standing in the middle of it, to see the exact same facial expression on each side.

 

Another room played a heart-breaking video which showed refugees from Syria who were all squished into one tiny boat, not even half of them wearing a life jacket. There were children crying and fathers rowing despite being completely exhausted.

The boat sank at the end of the video and Ashton and Michael could barely handle to watch as the people struggled to keep their children and themselves alive. As soon as they were sure all refugees were safe, they quickly moved onto the next room.  

 

As time went on, Ashton lost his interest in the art.

It was beautiful and all, but to him it all started to look the same after a while.

Michael, on the other hand, was still taking his sweet time.

Ashton certainly didn’t mind.

He sat down on one of the poufs in the middle of the room and watched the blue haired boy slowly move from one painting to the next, studying the canvas and reading the cards with information about the artworks and the maker of it.

After a while, he walked up to Ashton with a blush on his face.

“I’m so sorry, I lost track of time…”

“It’s okay; I don’t mind” the eldest quickly told him, smiling to show he meant it.

He obviously didn’t tell the boy he quite enjoyed watching him walk around and enjoy the art around him. He didn’t tell the boy he looked like a work of art himself.

“If you say so…” Michael mumbled, not sounding too convinced.

 

“The next room is about feminism” he started to tell while they walked out of the room and towards the next one.

“It represents the several women’s rights movement in the twentieth century and the current movement in the middle-east. There are also pieces about modern feminism, about equality when it comes to victims of rape and other abuse and what not.”

Ashton just nodded, not knowing what to say to that. He followed his roommate into the room and tried to focus on the photographs of the protests in the sixties, where countless of women marched through the streets, holding up signs about abortion and equal pay and so on.

 

On the other side of the room was a huge picture of the back of a broad man, huddled on the floor with bruises of all sizes and colours on his white skin.  

Next to it was a photograph of a man in his thirties with cuts and bruises in his face, his eyes cast down in shame. On top of the picture was written in angry red letters: " _It doesn’t happen to men”._

Ashton tried not to look at it, tried to avoid and ignore it, but it seemed impossible.

His eyes were simply drawn to it, and before he even knew it, he was staring at it from the middle of the room.

He did notice Michael was walking around the room again, paying every piece of art the same amount of attention.

The blonde just stood there, nailed to the ground and taking in the pictures in front of him, waiting for Michael to come and save him.

 

After what felt like hours, the blue haired boy came to stand next to him and look at the same paintings.

“There impressive, huh?” he questioned while staring at the defeated eyes of the beat up man.

“Yeah” Ashton mumbled, finally pulling himself out of his trance and walking away.

Michael followed him without question and as soon as they had entered the next and last room, it seemed as if the art major had already forgotten about the pictures that had hurt Ashton so by simply looking at it.

Ashton hadn’t.


	3. Chapter 3

### Tuesday, September 6th

 “I _really_ don’t want to go to that wedding” Ashton groaned at his phone. He’d been texting his sister for a bit and she had enthusiastically told him about all the preparations she had been involved in. He hadn’t told her he didn’t really want to hear it and obviously he hadn’t told her he didn’t even want to go either.

“Oh my god, stop whining already” Michael half chuckled, half grumbled.

The music major knew he had been talking about it way too much lately, but the closer they were getting to the wedding, the worse his dread was getting.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it” he sighed pitifully, staring at the dots on his phone which indicated his sister was typing again.

“It’s just that everybody is so hyped about it and I _really_ don’t want to go” he repeated.

“Then don’t.”

Michael had come up with this solution a dozen of times by now, but they both knew it wasn’t an option.

“You know I can’t.”

 

“Just tell your mum you already have a boyfriend” Michael shrugged after a short moment of silence. Of course he’d know exactly what the huge problem was.

Ashton looked up, staring at his roommate.

“That’s actually not a very bad idea.”

“I know” Michael smirked without taking his eyes of the essay he was currently working on.

“Do you think she’ll believe it?” Ashton questioned uncertainly.

“I mean, she’ll probably want me to take him with me and I would have to come up with some sorry excuse and-“

“I’ll be your boyfriend” his roommate interrupted him.

“What?”

“I’ll be your boyfriend” he repeated.

“I’ll go to the wedding with you, hold your hand, tell everyone how amazing and talented you are and that I was in love with you the moment you tripped over our threshold.”

Ashton smiled sheepishly, remembering how he had literally fallen into their home on his very first day. He had been carrying three boxes, causing him not to notice the threshold and tripping over it, landing face forward among his clothes and some other stuff.

“Would you really do that?” the eldest asked, sounding really shy all of sudden.

Michael looked up and met his eyes. He smiled.

“Yeah, of course…”

“If you want me to, that is.”

Ashton bit his bottom lip, thinking about the pros and cons real quick.

It would definitely be easier to shut his mother up about Ethan if he brought his _new boyfriend_. The wedding would also be more fun with his roommate there.

But on the other hand, he’d have to lie to his entire family and worst of all; he’d have to pretend to be in love with the guy he actually had a huge crush on. That would be _interesting,_ to say the least.

 

Next to him, Michael got a little fidgety while waiting for an answer.

“You know what, forget about it; I just thought that-“

“It’s a really good idea” Ashton interrupted him quickly.

“Let’s do it.”

The eldest tried to sound as confident as possible, not wanting Michael to notice he wasn’t sure about it and take his offer back.

The blue haired boy nodded slowly.

“Okay” he agreed.

“Okay” Ashton repeated, not knowing how else to respond.

The art major then smirked at him.

“This is going to be so much fun.”

Ashton smiled back.

He _really_ hoped his roommate was right.

 

### ***

### Sunday, September 11th

 

It took Ashton almost an entire week to finally call his mother and tell her he was bringing a guest.

Michael and him hadn’t really talked about it after they had agreed on the idea, and the music major knew that was something they still had to do.

There was quite a lot to discuss.

 

“Hi mum” he said as soon as she answered her phone.

“ _Oh hi baby”_ she greeted him back, the smile obvious in her voice.

“ _What’s up?”_ she asked, knowing her son never really called without a reason.

“I need to tell you something…” he started off. He didn’t know why he was feeling so nervous; he just did.

Michael, who was lounging on the couch with him, was watching him with an expression Ashton couldn’t quite place, which only made the entire situation worse.

“ _Oh?_ ” was all his mother said, sounding even more curious now.

“Yeah” the student rubbed the back of his neck a little awkwardly.

“It’s more of a question actually” he mumbled, really not knowing how to bring this.

“ _Well, spill then”_ Anne Marie replied, obviously growing impatient.

“Uhm… I kinda wanna bring someone to the wedding with me.”

 _“Really? Who is it?_ ”

“You remember my roommate, Michael, right?” Ashton said, biting his lip afterwards and looking at the art major.

“ _Yeah, you’ve mentioned him once or twice”_ the woman replied, giggling a little at her own joke. Ashton might’ve talked a little too much about the younger boy.

“We’re dating” the blonde rushed out, now that he still had the courage to. He locked eyes with said boy and blushed a little bit when he smirked at him. He quickly looked away.

“ _Really? That’s amazing honey”_ his mother cooed.

“ _I’ll let aunt Liz know._ ”

“Thank you.”

“ _Is he coming home with you?”_

Ashton furrowed his brows.

“Oh, we haven’t discussed that yet.”

“I’ll let you know.”

_“Okay baby.”_

_“I can’t wait to meet him!”_

“You’ll love him” Ashton said confidently, locking eyes with his roommate once again. The boy’s smirk only seemed to grow.

The music major wasn’t sure if his mum would like the blue hair and tattoos all that much, but he wasn’t worried she wouldn’t like him. Michael was, despite a bit awkward and shy at first, a very outgoing and charming guy and he’d probably fit right in.

Ashton decided to push that thought to the back of his mind with the rest of his ‘dangerous Michael related’ thoughts.

“ _I am sure I will. Are you happy?”_

“I am” he nodded at no one in particular. It wasn’t a complete lie.

As the weeks passed, Michael and him grew closer by the day and the music major definitely considered them good friends by now.

“ _Then I am too. I’ll tell aunt Liz and you’ll let me know if he’s staying with us once you two have discussed it, alright?”_

 _“_ I will”

_“Okay. I am sorry Ash, but I need to go now. I’ve gotta pick Harry up from soccer practise.”_

“Tell him I said hi!”

“ _I will. Bye honey”_

“Bye.”

 

“So, that went pretty well, didn’t it?” Michael spoke up as soon as Ashton had put his phone away. The eldest nodded.

“Yeah. I kinda expected her to make a huge deal out of it to be honest.”

Michael giggled.

“Now what?” he asked, eyeing the eldest curiously.

Ashton hummed as he thought of an answer.

“Well, first we figure out if you’re coming home with me right away or if you’re just gonna visit for a day or two…” he said, feeling almost too shy to look at his blue haired friend. He felt a little stupid for even suggesting the first option, for there was no way Michael was going to want to stay with him and his family for so long.

“I’ll come right away; be there at the stag do and rehearsal dinner and shit…” Michael answered easily, as if it was nothing. Maybe it was.

Ashton hadn’t really planned on going home as soon as school was over, but now that his roommate was coming with him, he was seriously considering it.

“If your mother doesn’t mind, that is” he added quickly, smiling sheepishly at Ashton.

“She won’t” the music major promised him. Somehow it was hard not to smile at his roommate, feeling giddy just thinking about spending a whole week time at his old home with his own family and Michael. Suddenly, the idea of a wedding with his ex around didn’t seem so terrible anymore.

“This is gonna be so much fun” the art major grinned and Ashton couldn’t help but mimic him.

“Yeah” he agreed softly.

 

After Ashton had cooked them dinner – he seriously had to teach Michael how to cook someday –the two of them were working on their schoolwork again. The music major’s phone vibrated and at first he didn’t want to stop playing his piano but then it buzzed again and again and Ashton was pretty sure it wouldn’t stop until he would reply. Plus the vibrating wouldn’t do his recordings any good either.

 

[From: Lauren 9:43pm]

_OMG, why didn’t you tell me about your new bf??_

[From: Lauren 9:43pm]

_I demand to know EVERYTHING!_

[From: Lauren 9:44pm]

_And pictures!_

[From: Lauren 9:44pm]

_And maybe his number_

Ashton snorted at his phone. Of course Lauren would text him right away, and of course she’d be offended about not knowing.

“What’s up?” Michael asked curiously, eyeing Ashton for a little bit before going back to work.

“Lauren texted me. She _demands_ to know everything about you. She even wants your number…”

“What does she need my number for?” the art major asked, seeming genuinely confused.

“Probably to interrogate you…” Ashton mumbled while he typed his reply.

“Are you going to give it to her?”

“No, of course not” the blonde giggled.

“Shame… She’d probably send me baby pictures of you and tell embarrassing stories about you as a toddler.”

The eldest blushed a little, knowing his mother and sister would do exactly that as soon as Michael would step foot into his childhood home.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll get plenty of that in a few weeks” the music major sighed.

“I bet you were the cutest baby ever” and if that didn’t have Ashton blushing like mad, that nothing ever would.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're having a hard time to imagine what the boy's suits would look like, then here's a link to the picture that it's based on. I'm not that good at describing clothes and stuff, I'm sorry...
> 
> https://www.gentlemansgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Houndstooth-Vest-Trousers-with-solid-peaked-lapel-blue-jacket.jpg

### Saturday, September 17th

Michael stopped walking without warning, causing Ashton to walk into him, his chest crashing into the blue haired boy’s back.

He looked up, ready to ask his fake boyfriend what was up, when he noticed Michael staring at a shop across the street.

Ashton took it in for a bit and then sighed.

“I don’t want to wear a tuxedo” he whined stubbornly, for what was probably the eleventh time that day.

 

The two boys had been out shopping for only two hours by now, but Ashton was already sick of it. He didn’t want to wear a tuxedo but Michael wouldn’t let him try on anything else.

 _“Tuxedos are nice_ ” he had said, “ _you just need to find the right one_.”

And well, Ashton just didn’t agree with him.

 

“It’s only for one day” Michael argued.                                                     

“If I am going to be your date, we better look hot as fuck.”

Ashton kinda wanted to tell Michael that he’d look hot as fuck no matter what, but managed to keep his mouth shut and the thought to himself.

Instead, the blonde just sighed and let the younger boy pull him towards and eventually into the shop. The two of them looked around for a bit, taking in all different kinds of tuxedos.

Most of them were plain black or dark blue, some grey or sand coloured and Ashton just knew he didn’t want any of those.

If he was going to wear a tuxedo, it better be one like no other.

 

“Do you want matching outfits?” Michael asked out of nowhere.

The blonde scrunched up his nose.

“Isn’t that way too corny?” he wondered out loud, still walking around the shop and taking in all the different kind of choices. The shop was way bigger than he had expected.

“I don’t think so. That way everybody can tell I’m yours and you’re mine” Michael shrugged, as if what he had just said was no big deal at all.

Ashton tried to keep the butterflies in his stomach at bay and the blush off of his cheeks, but failed miserably.

“Okay” he agreed. He could never disagree with Michael, it seemed.

 

“Good afternoon” a low voice said, and both boys turned around to meet the man’s eyes.

The man was dressed in a plaid grey suit with a bright blue vest and white shirt and Ashton had to admit he had never seen an elderly man look as good as this one.

“Can I help you?” he asked kindly, despite the boys not really looking like they even had enough money to buy a tie here. They were both in shorts and a tank top due to the hot weather outside. Michael’s blue hair didn’t really fit the scene either.

Ashton’s mum had sent him money to buy some clothes though and money had never been a problem to the art major, thanks to his parents’ wealthy jobs.

 

“Yes, actually” Michael answered the man with a kind smile on his face.

“We’re looking for an outfit for a wedding.”

“Are you going together?” the man asked non-judgemental.

“Yeah” the younger of the two beamed.

“Marvellous” the man smiled, looking from Michael to Ashton.

 “So, did you have anything in mind yet?” the shop assistant wanted to know.

The blue haired boy started enumerating all of his ideas and the blonde decided to leave the two to it. He didn’t really care about fashion and clothes and all that, while the art major obviously did. Ashton trusted him enough to let him just do his thing.

 

When his name was called out, the blonde boy walked over to his roommate and the shop assistant. He watched as the kept up some clothes up and furrowed his brows a little.

“What do you think?” the blue haired boy wondered while turning towards him.

“I don’t know” he mumbled in reply, eyeing the clothing suspiciously.

The complete tuxedo the shop assistant was holding up was light grey with a darker shade of grey plaid and Ashton was pretty sure he wouldn’t want to be found dead in it.

“I’ll wear the jacket and you’ll wear the pants, vest, tie and pochet” the blue haired boy beamed, showing Ashton the items made of the exact same fabric.

“I, uhh” the eldest stuttered, not sure how to turn Michael down.

“Just try it on!” the art major smirked, not even letting Ashton finish.

Said boy rolled his eyes and then nodded, reaching out for his clothes. The shop assistant handed it to him, along with a white shirt and a dark blue jacket.

Ashton disappeared into the fitting room and put the clothes on.

 

He didn’t really expect to like his reflection in the mirror once he was done, but found out he really did.

It wasn’t just any other tuxedo, just like he had wanted and it looked pretty good on him – if he said so himself.

When he came out of the changing room, Michael was already waiting for him, wearing the plaid jacket on top of dark blue pants and vest, made of the exact same colour as Ashton’s jacket. He was wearing a white shirt and a black tie with it and the music major had to admit it looked way better than he had expected.

 

He moved to stand next to the art major and stared at the reflection of two of them. It was like they completed each other now; as if their picture wasn’t whole without the other next to them.

“You look really good” he said softly, finding it almost scary to say it out loud.

He had found the other boy attractive since day one, but this right here was something else entirely. His tuxedo fit him just right and made him look like some sort of model and Ashton couldn’t look away.

“You too” Michael smiled at him through the mirror.

“You should dye your hair another shade of blue now though” Ashton giggled, noticing the colours didn’t match at _all_.

“I know” the youngest nodded, smirking a little.

“So, you like it?”

“Hell yeah” Ashton giggled, his eyes never leaving their reflection.

 

After they had paid for their clothes, the two boys walked into a tiny local coffee shop.

Ashton, who only drank coffee to keep himself awake after a night of schoolwork or of heavy drinking, ordered a hot chocolate with whipped cream. Michael, a downright coffee addict, ordered a double espresso instead.

The two of them sat down near the window and watched the shopping crowd pass them by in silence while Ashton hummed along to the radio that was softly playing an old song Michael didn’t know.

 

“Your mum’s going to be so excited when she sees you in your suit” the younger of the two muttered after a little while, not meeting Ashton’s eyes.

The music major chuckled and rolled his eyes, knowing his roommate was absolutely right.

“Yeah” he said.

“I bet we’ll look better than the bride and groom” the blue haired boy added.

“I don’t think we’ll look better than the bride” Ashton giggled.

“But we might be able to beat Jack.”

 

### *** 

### Monday, September 19th

 

“What are you doing?” Ashton asked incredulously when he came home after his last class of that day.

Michael was seated on top of the kitchen counter, a pumpkin in his lap and a large knife in his hand. He had dyed his hair a darker shade of blue the day before and it looked fucking amazing on him.

The art major looked up at the sound of his roommate’s voice.

“Hi” was all he said, and well, that wasn’t enough of an answer.

“What’s that supposed to be?” the blonde asked, nodding towards the pumpkin in the blue haired boy’s lap.

“A pumpkin?” Michael said, making it sound like a question as he furrowed his brows, not understanding what Ashton was getting at.

“I can see that” the eldest rolled his eyes. Michael opened his mouth, probably to be a smartass and ask him why he even bothered to ask if he already knew but Ashton wouldn’t let him.

“But why is it here? In our kitchen?” he clarified.

“Oh.”

“It’s almost Halloween.”

“It’s September” Ashton reasoned.

“That’s what I said” Michael smirked at him, looking as excited as a toddler on Christmas Eve.

Ashton rolled his eyes, but couldn’t fight the fond that was making its way towards his eyes and probably entire face and the blue haired boy’s smirk only grew, obviously feeling pretty satisfied.

 

“We should watch ‘the nightmare before Christmas’ after dinner” the art major mumbled while going back to work.

Ashton, curious as he was, walked over to him to see what masterpiece the talented kid had made this time. There was no doubt it would look better than the blonde had ever seen before.

He hopped onto the counter so he was seated right next to Michael, their thighs and shoulders pressed together tightly for their kitchen wasn’t that big.

Ashton peeked over the boy’s shoulder as he carved into the pumpkin,

“Is that Donald Trump?” Ashton asked, trying to sound annoyed instead of amused.

“Yeah…”

“Aren’t Halloween pumpkins supposed to be scary?”

“Yeah” Michael repeated, concentrating on his work completely.

The music major chuckled a little, patting his roommate on his knee and then hopping off of the counter again.

“You’re a weird one Clifford” he mumbled as he walked off towards his room. Michael probably didn’t hear him, and if he did, he just didn’t reply.

 

After dinner the two boys watched ‘ _the nightmare before Christmas’_  together, Ashton singing along to every single song there was.

“I didn’t think you were such a Tim Burton fan” Michael noted.

“The music’s good” the eldest shrugged lazily.

The blue haired boy hummed in agreement and then, without warning, moved so he was lying on the couch with his head in the older boy’s lap.

Ashton looked down at him for a bit, not sure what to do now. The two of them had cuddled before, but never like this.

Michael was watching the movie like nothing was up, contently humming along to the music in the background because he apparently knew each part by heart too.

The music major thought ‘fuck it’ and then moved his hand so it was on top of his roommate’s head, his fingers lazily stroking through the blue strands of hair. They had to start acting like a couple sooner or later anyways.

The youngest sighed happily and Ashton was pretty sure he was gonna fall asleep on him any minute now.

That didn’t make him stop petting Michael’s hair though.

So he returned his attention back to the movie – or at least, so he tried – and kept playing with the boy’s hair until his eyelids fell shut and his breathing evened out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it :)  
> Leave a comment if you did because one single comment can make my entire day!
> 
> All the love,


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just another short, cute, fluffy, domestic chapter of getting to know the two boys. I promise next chapter will be longer and more... interesting

### Thursday, September 29th

The air was so much colder than only a week ago and the sidewalks covered in orange, yellow and brown leaves. Ashton had a scarf wrapped around his neck and a hot chocolate in his hand to keep his fingers and throat warm.

Michael was walking right next to him, the two of them on their way towards the art building on campus. Michael spent most of his school time on the first and second floor while Ashton never really left the fourth floor.

 

“We should send your sister a selfie” Michael murmured out of nowhere, and Ashton had to look at him for a good thirty seconds before he figured out what the boy was talking about.

“Yeah, it’s been a while” he nodded sheepishly once he had.

“We look like shit though” the blonde chuckled, referring to their sleepy eyes and red noses and cheeks from the cold wind.

“No offense.”

“That makes it even cuter” Michael reasoned.

“It shows that we’re not afraid to take photos together on our lower moments” he winked.

Ashton rolled his eyes at the boy. He really was a romantic sometimes, something the blonde hadn’t quite expected.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

 

The two boys stopped walking and shuffled a little closer to each other. Ashton reached out his arm to take a selfie of the both of them and Michael pressed his cold cheek against the older boy’s and squeezed his eyes shut as he smiled brightly. He held up his coffee enough so you could tell they went to get drinks together.

Ashton took a few pictures in a row and together they picked the best one to send to Lauren.

 _‘Good morning’_ he sent along with it.

 

“I’ll see you after school” Michael said as he turned left and Ashton walked towards the stairs that brought him to his first class of the day.

“Yeah, bye” he said as he started climbing the stairs.

 

His phone buzzed the moment he sat down in class and he quickly took it out of his pocket to see who it was from.

Of course it was his younger sister.

 

[From: Lauren 8:03am]

_Aww, you really are the cutest couple EVER <3_

She had said and Ashton grinned at his phone before taking a screenshot and sending it to his roommate.

His thoughts drifted off, thinking about what life would be like if Michael and him were really dating.

They’d probably go to loads of concerts and art exhibitions, make art together and watch series in front of the tv like they did now but cuddled up while sharing way too many kisses to focus on the show.

They’d go on the cutest dates and come back to their own, cosy place where they’d snuggle up in Ashton’s bed since his was bigger and then in the morning the eldest would make Michael breakfast.

It sounded absolutely perfect, and the music major would do anything to have that with his roommate.

 

The boy then tried to focus on the teacher in the front of the room who was talking about the ‘art of modulating’ and though it was something he’d always been interested in, he couldn’t really stop thinking about the blue haired boy.

 

[From: Michael 8:14am]

_I know right ;) it’s like we were made for each other…_

Ashton furrowed his brows.

Was Michael seriously flirting with him or just making fun of him right now?

Because, if the blonde was being honest to himself, he figured that – yeah – they must’ve been made for each other.

They had a lot in common but were so damn different at the same time; it was like they completed each other.

Both boys were most content when they were together, doing absolutely nothing and wasn’t that what everybody was looking for in a partner?

 

[From: Lauren 8:26am]

_I really can’t wait to meet him. What’s he like?_

The blonde smiled down at his phone.

 _‘Bold, loud, funny, carefree, talented, kind, gorgeous’_ were only the first few words that came to mind when he thought of Michael. He didn’t tell Lauren that though, because if he really had to list everything that Michael was, than he wouldn’t be done texting at the end of the class.

 

[To: Lauren 8:27am]

_Perfect._

[From: Lauren 8:27am]

_Awwwwwww <33_

### ***

### Sunday, October 2nd

“What’s your family like?” Michael’s voice was suddenly so much closer and Ashton turned to see said boy leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed in front of his chest while the blonde was making mac and cheese.

“Uhm” Ashton said, thinking of how to tell the art major this without scaring him off.

“Loud, noisy, gregarious…”

“Sounds perfect” Michael hummed, the smile audible in his voice.

“Yeah? Wait till you’re around them for longer than ten minutes. You’ll go crazy in no time.”

Ashton sounded pretty bitter as he said it, but he had to admit that that was the exact reason why he loved his family so much. Michael could probably hear the fond though.

“I bet you love them” he said, as expected.

“Yeah” the eldest giggled a little.

 

“Tell me about them” Michael pushed, wanting to know more about the family he was going to spend an entire week with.

“Okay” Ashton gave in easily.

“My mum is very… _motherly”_

The youngest rolled his eyes at that.

“I’m sorry” Ashton giggled loudly.

“I don’t really know how else to put it; she’s concerned about us all the time and sweet and caring but she can be really stern when she has to. She’s a typical mother I guess.”

Michael nodded at him.

“And your dad?”

“I don’t have one” Ashton shrugged.

“I’m so sorry” the blue haired boy said, his brows furrowed and bottom lip sticking out a little in a pout.

“It’s okay. I should’ve told you that weeks ago…”

The eldest didn’t even know why he had never mentioned it before. Maybe it was because he never really thought about the man that was supposed to be his father anymore.

“He left a few years ago, but I don’t miss him all that much.”

“Oh” Michael muttered, still sounding a little sad.

 

“I took over the role of the man in the house after he left; made breakfast for my siblings and brought them to school, made them dinner almost every night and put them to bed if my mum had to work late. It wasn’t ideal, but thanks to all that I now have an amazing bond with my siblings.”

Michael nodded a little. He had been an only child all his life, so he couldn’t really imagine what that would be like.

“Lauren is sixteen now. She’s a junior, and she’s a cheerleader. She’s really good; her team participates in lots of competitions.”

“And Harry?”

Ashton put the dish in the oven, set the timer and then turned around to lean against the counter as well.

“He’s eleven. He’s in grade five. He’s such a funny little guy, and wise beyond his age in my opinion. He plays the drum in the school band” the blonde chuckled, shaking his head a little just at the thought of his youngest sibling.

“He’s gonna do everything to impress you, so I gotta warn you.”

“I won’t mind” Michael chuckled.

 

“What about the rest?” the blue haired boy wanted to know as the two roommates started setting their table.

Ashton grabbed two plates from a cupboard and placed them on the table, one on either side of it.

“There’s Uncle Andrew and Aunt Liz, the groom’s parents…”

“Their family is like the perfect example of a typical American family. It’s like they life in a movie scene where nothing ever goes wrong, honestly.”

When he was younger, the music major had been pretty envious of the Hemmings’.

Andrew and Liz were still together and obviously in love. They got along perfectly with their children, had more than enough money and went on all these vacations and trips and what not. They had taken Ashton, Lauren and Harry with them more often than not, but still… It was different.

 

“Their eldest son is Ben, he is 27. He’s in the army. He’s really nice but he doesn’t really talk much. Then there’s Jack, the groom. He’s 24. We get along just great, with him being only one year older and such. His fiancé is called Celeste…. She’s nice, I guess; I don’t really know her that well. They started dating when Jack left for college, so I didn’t see her often” Ashton shrugged. Michael placed two glasses on top of the table and the blonde filled a carafe with water.

“Their youngest is Luke; he’s 19. He’s my favourite cousin” Ashton chuckled a little.

“We used to pull all kinds of pranks together. I think he made me forget I had to watch over the others sometimes.”

“You could be a child when you were with him…” Michael smiled knowingly at him and Ashton found himself nodding.

 

“He plays the guitar as well. We’d always play together and then I’d teach him the songs I learned during my music lessons.”

“Two days after I told my mum I was gay, he came out as well” Ashton giggled at the memory. His parents hadn’t been mad at all, but very surprised and slightly confused.

“At first my aunt and uncle thought he was just copying me, but he proved he wasn’t by bringing home Calum. It’s been three years and they’re still together.”

 

“Is that your entire family?” Michael asked curiously.

“No, my mum has an older brother; Uncle David. Him and Uncle Peter have four children and three grandchildren together. I barely ever see them because they live so far away…”

“And then there’ll be Jack’s other side of the family and both Celeste’s families of course. So, are you still sure you wanna come?”

It was meant as a joke, but it came out pretty insecure and Ashton hated how nervous he was that Michael was going to say no.

“Of course” he beamed enthusiastically.

“I can’t wait to fool ‘em all!”

 

Oh.

Right.

Ashton had almost forgotten about that tiny little detail, due to all his excitement.

_Almost._


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, here is finally some proper fluff for y'all. Hope you enjoy it!

### Wednesday, October 5th

Ashton looked away when the main characters of the movie they had been watching kissed; it was an odd habit he seemingly couldn’t get rid of.

Next to him, Michael was happily chewing on a handful of popcorn with his bottle of beer in his hands and his feet resting on top of the coffee table.

 

“We should practise our kiss” he said out of nowhere, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him.

Ashton felt as if he couldn’t breathe for a second or two, and if he had been drinking anything, he would’ve probably spit it out like they did in cartoons.

“What?”

“We should practise kissing” Michael said it like it as if the two of them were just casually discussing the weather.

“Like, for the wedding...”

 

“Uhm, you’re probably right” the eldest stuttered out, starting to blush and feeling quite awkward. Michael turned to look at him and smirked.

“What, did you really think we could fool your family without actually acting like a proper couple?”

“No, I just… didn’t think it through, I guess.”

“Do you want to take it back?” Michael asked, sounding concerned.

“No, wWe can’t take it back now. The wedding’s in two weeks.”

Ashton wouldn’t know how to tell his mum he didn’t actually have a boyfriend and that he lied to her. Or worse, pretend like he broke up with Michael.

“Okay” the art major nodded.

 

“So, what do we have to do to be a proper couple, besides kissing?” Ashton forced himself to ask.

“Hold each other’s hands, be cute, dance together…” Michael grinned.

“Oh, and we should probably make sure we both tell the same story of how we met and all…”

Ashton nodded. That, he could do.

“What did you have in mind?”

“I’d keep it simple” Michael started.

“I’d tell them we moved in together and just spend so much time together and became real close real quick and then I took you on a date after two weeks or so.”

“Why did _you_ ask _me_?” Ashton asked, pretending to be offended.

Michael shot him a look that seemed to say ‘for real’ or something along the lines of that and the eldest began to giggle.

“Okay, you asked me” he easily gave in.

“Where’d we go?”

“I took you to Hyde Park, where I surprised you with a picnic you thought I prepared myself but I actually didn’t. Afterwards we watched ‘enough said’ there, out in the open air on top of our blanket. There were other couples around us but we didn’t see them because we only had eyes for each other and then I kissed you for the very first time and you kissed me back. It was perfect until it started raining out of nowhere because the weather in London sucks and we should’ve known that but apparently, we didn’t.”

“That’s really cheesy” the blonde giggled. It was a little unfair to say, because it did actually sound like a perfect first date.

“They will love it” Michael shrugged, not fazed by his roommate’s criticism.

“Okay. A picnic and a movie it is.”

“And then?”

“We went to an art exhibition on the second date” Michael smirked, referring to their trip of a few weeks ago. Ashton blushed as if on cue.

“And then I asked you to be mine and you said yes and we lived happily ever after.”

 Ashton rolled his eyes.

“Okay” he agreed easily nonetheless.

“Okay” the blue haired boy repeated, looking at the blonde expectantly.

 

“What?” the elder of the two asked after a while, feeling a little uneasy under Michael’s intense stare.

“Should we practise our kiss now, or do you want to wait even longer?”

Ashton’s blush only got worse, making his head feel at least two degrees warmer than the rest of his body.

“Now is good” he stuttered, feeling so much younger all of sudden.

He had kissed before, but never like this.

He’d never kissed a friend who he had a secret crush on before, after discussing it first, and he just didn’t know how to act.

 

Michael shifted on the couch so he was right next to Ashton, their knees pressed together as they were facing each other.

The eldest looked down at the art major’s plump lips and it definitely wasn’t the first time that he wondered what they’d feel like against his own. He was going to find out for real this time though, and the thought alone almost had his heart beating out of his chest.

He took a deep breath and watched Michael leaning in and then he closed his eyes as he felt the younger boy carefully pressing his lips against Ashton’s as if he wasn’t sure it was alright with him yet.

The blonde kissed him back hesitantly, his hands uselessly resting on top of his own knees as if he’d scare Michael away by touching him.

It was safe to say it wasn’t the most amazing first kiss ever.

 

The blue haired boy pulled away then, smiling awkwardly and refusing to look Ashton into his eyes.

“Well, we definitely need to work on that…” he muttered, sounding almost disappointed.

Ashton panicked a little when it seemed like Michael was going to shift back to his original spot on the couch and he quickly stopped him by placing his hand on top of Michael’s.

The boy looked at him curiously and Ashton leaned in to go back to what they had been doing before he lost the courage to. He moved his free hand to cup Michael’s cheek and kissed him determined this time.

It didn’t take long at all before Michael started kissing him back, the hand beneath Ashton’s grabbing his and the other resting against the back his neck, his thumb rubbing against the warm skin and soft little hairs there.

The blonde could feel Michael exhaling through his nose a little, as if he let out a content sigh and he couldn’t really help but smile into the kiss. He felt the art major smile back.

They parted a little later but the blue haired boy didn’t move back without a last quick peck to his lips and both boys couldn’t help but grin a little.

 

“So, Ashton… What makes Michael so special?” the youngest asked in a high pitched voice then, their movie long forgotten.

The blonde rolled his eyes at his roommate, a fond smile still on his lips.

“Aside from his amazingly handsome looks obviously” Michael quickly added before Ashton could even open his mouth to answer him.

The music major was about to argue with him because bickering with the blue haired boy was way too much fun, but decided against it eventually.

“I love him for who he is; his kindness, his humour, his care-free attitude and his ability to make everything a little more beautiful than it already was. I love the sound of his voice in the morning or when he sings along to the songs I wrote from the top of his lungs. I love how he makes me feel when I am with him; like I don’t have to try to be better than I am because he accepts me and loves me exactly as I am. I love how we can just sit and do nothing and still feel like we had the most amazing night ever… I just love him for who he is and the way he loves me.”

Ashton had meant pretty much every word of it, but Michael obviously didn’t know that.

Said boy gulped and smiled down at the ground.

“They’re gonna love that answer” he said, sounding shy all of sudden and as if he was reminding himself of the fact that all of this was just an act.

But maybe Ashton was only seeing things because he wanted them to be true.

 

So he smiled sheepishly at the blue haired boy. He wasn’t going to ask what he loved about him because there was no way he could handle the answer.

 

### ***

### Friday, October 7th

 

Ashton was whistling a tune as he was preparing eggs and bacon for him and his roommate, the smell slowly spreading through their entire apartment. The blonde knew it would wake Michael up any second now and it made him smile a little. He had always loved taking care of people; of his mother and his siblings and now Michael. He had loved doing all that for his ex as well, but he tried not to think about that too much.

Sometimes it scared him to think about how much his and Michael’s situation reminded him of him and Ethan before they started dating, but he kept telling himself that the younger boy was _nothing_ like his ex.

It did help during the day, mostly because Michael kept proving it to him over and over again, but it didn’t stop the nightmares though, where it was Michael instead of Ethan treating him the way his ex had. Luckily his roommate had never heard his muffled screams and cries.

 

The music major never really heard Michael’s sock-clad feet on their tile floor and the blue haired boy often took advantage of it by scaring the hell out of the eldest. This time, things went a little different though.

Because out of nowhere, Ashton could feel a presence behind him and then a chest being pressed against his back, two arms curling around his torso and holding tight. His entire body automatically tensed.

“Good morning” Michael mumbled, his voice hoarse and his breath warm against Ashton’s exposed skin.

“You scared me” the blonde laughed a little breathlessly, forcing his muscles to relax because it was only Michael and trying to stop blushing already. He felt like a sixteen year old kid in love for the very first time.

“Get used to it” the youngest mused, kissing Ashton’s shoulder softly.

 

“What are you doing?” the blonde asked, whispering while Michael kissed his way up towards Ashton’s neck and then moved to the sensitive spot behind the older boy’s ear. He didn’t really want Michael to stop, but he needed to know what the hell was going on.

“We’re practising” the blue haired boy said matter-of-factly, his lips not leaving Ashton’s skin.

“Your family can’t see you get all flustered just from a simple touch. It must look like we’ve done this hundreds of times before.”

“Right” the music major breathed out, not knowing how to handle this entire situation.

 

Once they had both eaten their bacon and eggs and were ready to leave for class, Michael grabbed Ashton’s hand as soon as they were standing on the pavement in front of their home. The eldest looked down at their intertwined hands and couldn’t help but smile a little.

Ashton spent the entire walk worrying about his hands being sweaty but Michael didn’t let go until they had no other choice.

When they finally let go Michael kissed his cheeks and walked away with a wink and a ‘ _see you after school babe’_.

 

This whole wedding date idea was either the best or the worst Ashton had ever agreed to.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so here's quite a short chapter but I think it's pretty cute, so...  
> Enjoy!

### Thursday, October 13th

 “Honey; I am home!” Michael sang as he opened the front door and walked into their living room with bags full of groceries, his eyes scanning the room for a sign of Ashton.

“Hi” his soft voice came from his bedroom, along with the sound of a guitar being strummed, his saxophone lying next to him on his bed. Ashton was almost done with his latest school project and then he could finally start packing for their break. Michael had been ready to leave for almost two days now.

 

The art major didn’t walk into his room; instead he stood in his doorstep, leaning against the white wooden frame with his arms crossed over his chest and a fond grin on his face.

“Are you seriously still working on that song for class? We’re leaving in like ten hours and you haven’t packed a thing yet!”

“I know, I know; it’s just… not good enough yet” Ashton sighed, quickly writing down some changes and then going back to strumming his guitar, trying out all kinds of chords to go with his melody.

“Do you want me to pack anything for you?” his roommate offered but the blonde shook his head.

“No, I’m almost done.”

 

Ashton stopped playing the instrument and sighed when Michael turned around and walked away to put the groceries either in bags or in cupboards, letting his head hang low for a second or two.

He really wasn’t working on his project for school because it wasn’t done yet; he was just looking for a reason not to think about leaving yet.

 

Though things with Michael were going great and the eldest wasn’t that concerned about pretending to actually date his roommate and secret crush (and lie to his entire family about it) anymore, Ashton suddenly did worry about meeting Ethan again; about having to face his ex and pretend like the boy never hurt him the way he had.

He knew the blue haired boy would be at his side twenty-four-seven, but he was still scared to be in the same room with that man again.

He hadn’t told his roommate about his past with his ex-boyfriend yet, and he really hoped he never had to.

 

Ashton worked on his song for another hour or so before he finally started picking out clothes to take with him on his and Michael’s trip. Somehow, the blue haired boy seemed to sense this, for he showed up out of nowhere and started helping him wordlessly, reminding Ashton to bring stuff he obviously hadn’t thought about and refolding his shirts for him so there wouldn’t be too many creases in them.

The eldest smiled at him as to thank him and the art major winked at him. Ashton couldn’t help but think of how domestic this was and how freakin’ much he _loved it._

 

When they were about done, and all there was left to pack was stuff they would still need in the morning, the two ended up on their couch and in front of the tv. It was something that occurred pretty much every night, but neither of the students ever grew tired of it.

Ashton wordlessly cuddled up against the younger boy, wrapping his arms around his torso and burying the side of his face in his sweater so he could see the tv with only one eye. Michael put his arms around him, his fingers drawing random patterns into the skin of his shoulder and his chin resting on top of his blonde curls.

Being with Michael was easy as long as the music major didn’t think about all of this being an act, and over as soon as they’d come back from their trip.

 

“I really can’t wait to meet your family” Michael muttered after a while, the smile obvious despite Ashton not being able to actually see it.

“I can’t wait for them to meet you either. They’ll love you” Ashton said, not caring he had said this a thousand times already.

“I really hope so” the youngest chuckled a little nervously.

“It’s gonna be so awkward if they don’t.”

“Then they’d probably keep telling you how you should’ve taken your ex back instead of dating me” the art major giggled.

Ashton tried not to tense up at that.

“I really hope not; I’m only bringing you to avoid talking about him” he giggled, trying to make a joke out of it.

“Ouch” Michael joked.

“I could still change my mind, you know…”

 

The blonde sat up a little at that and turned to look at Michael, who was now pouting at him, trying to hide his grin.

He leaned in a little, looking from Michael’s gorgeous green eyes down to his plump lips and back to his eyes. Then he closed his own and moved forward to press his mouth against his roommate’s to show he didn’t mean it at all.

He kissed him softly, just their lips moving against each other and it was – like every other kiss with Michael, except for the very first – the best kiss he’d ever had.

The youngest made a little whining sound when Ashton pulled back and fluttered his eyes open, only to lean his head against his chest again.

Michael pressed one last kiss to the top of his head and then they went back to watching the movie again, the eldest too scared to say something stupid like ‘I love you’ to say anything at all. 

 

### ***

### Friday, October 14th

 

Michael wasn’t known for his wonderful moods in the morning, but this time, he seemed to be more cheery than he’d ever been before nine am. He was pretty much skipping around their apartment, gathering the last things they needed to bring on their trip while Ashton was making breakfast.

The younger boy’s excitement was quite contagious, and therefor he found himself hurrying so they could get going already. He was still nervous to go home, but mostly just very happy about seeing his mum and siblings again and showing the blue haired boy the place where he had spent most of his years.

 

“How long is the ride again?” Michael asked during breakfast, looking at Ashton curiously.

“About four and a half hour without traffic” he answered him. The art major nodded.

“Good thing I made us a playlist then” he smiled, showing Ashton a tiny, blue USB-stick. The boy found himself smiling back automatically; Michael was too adorable sometimes.

“Really? Is it full of wedding songs?” he wondered out loud, only half kidding.

“No. It’s a surprise.”

Ashton hummed and nodded, knowing it was useless to try and find out what kind of music Michael had selected for their trip. The boy was a stubborn one and would never tell him anyways.

 

“Are we leaving right after breakfast?” the youngest asked excitedly, looking like a little kid about to go on the trip of their life.

“Yeah, after we’re done with the dishes.”

The art major pouted at him and Ashton was _almost_ offering to do it on his own so Michael could start bringing their stuff to his car. But then he realised that he had done the dishes on his own for the last four days already, and he changed his mind.

“We can’t leave it behind for an entire week Mike” he reasoned with the boy.

“I just really can’t wait to go already” the boy sighed.

“It’ll take ten minutes, tops” Ashton promised, which earned him yet another sigh and a pout.

 

The youngest did the dishes in record time and before the blonde even knew it, they were in the front seats of his car, driving away from their apartment and towards his childhood home.

Michael plugged in his USB stick and hit play, turning the volume on all the way. He watched Ashton as the first song began to play and the music major recognized it to be ‘ _where the streets have no name’_ by U2. The blonde grinned while keeping his eyes on the road; he absolutely loved his classics.

“Did you make a special road-trip-playlist?” he questioned, enjoying the long instrumental part at the beginning.

“Yeah” Michael beamed.

“I’ve found about one-hundred-and-forty songs about the road or streets or driving” he said proudly.

Ashton rolled his eyes at his steering wheel.

“How long did it take you to make it?”

“About three weeks.”

 

Suddenly Bono began to sing and Ashton couldn’t stop himself from singing along, a bright smile on his face and his hands drumming against the steering wheel in front of him. He could hear Michael chuckle, the boy obviously satisfied with Ashton’s reaction. It didn’t take long for the other boy to join him, though he didn’t know the words as well as Ashton did.

 

“Do you want a snack?” Michael asked after about an hour.

“We _just_ had breakfast” Ashton argued with him.

“Yeah, but it’s a road trip tradition to eat candy, so…” he said as he reached for the bag he had brought. The blonde quickly turned his head to see what was in it and smirked soundlessly when he saw Michael had actually brought them both a bottle of water and two cans of RedBull, along with at least five different kinds of candy.

“You’re acting like we’ll be in this car for five _days_ instead of hours…”

Michael shrugged.

“At least I came prepared.”

Ashton shook his head and rolled his eyes once again, but not without a fond smile on his face.

“You really are too much sometimes.”

 

### ***

 

“How much further is it?” Michael whined for probably the fourteenth time since they had left.

“We’ll be there in ten minutes…” Ashton answered him, his eyes scanning the neighbourhood where he used to run and play, where his dad taught him how to ride a bike.

The art major suddenly sat up a little straighter and looked around curiously.

“I would’ve loved growing up in a place like this” he said, taking in the rather small, countryside town.

The blonde nodded. He knew his roommate had lived in the big city all his life. He could only imagine how foreign his small, picturesque town with old houses, shops and a tiny white church was to him.

“It’s pretty great” he agreed. He didn’t really miss it though. The only thing he had ever missed was how everybody knew each other in his town and how strangers were welcomed with open arms, no matter what.

 

He turned to the right, steering the car into a small road with attached houses on either side of it. Michael had his nose pressed to the glass by now, staring at the small, yellow and red coloured trees on the side of the road and the buildings which were hidden away behind them.

Ashton turned onto the drive-way of the very last house and then parked the car in front of it.

“Is this your home?”

“It was” the blonde smiled at the youngest.

 

His home was with Michael now, back in the big city near their university.

Home was cuddling up with the art major in front of the tv, cooking dinner for him and eating breakfast together; home was simply the two of them existing side by side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr! (abbypd.tumblr.com)
> 
> Xx


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, I should've updated days ago, but I've been really busy with Sinterklaas (a dutch holiday) and Christmas coming up! I'll try to keep it up, but I've got six gigs in the next two weeks and then there's other stuff I need to practise for (I sing teehee) soooo, It'll probably take a while before I'll post the next chapter.
> 
> I'm sorry :(

### Friday, October 14th

 “Mum!” Ashton cheered as soon as the front door opened and his mother all but ran out of it. He closed his car door and walked towards her, letting her fall into his arms as soon as they had reached each other.

“Hi baby” she cooed, peppering kisses all over his cheek.

Then a second car door was being closed behind Ashton and Anne-Marie looked up curiously.

“You must be Michael!” she said, releasing her son now and outstretching her arms towards the art major. The blonde secretly wondered what she thought of his hair, but obviously wasn’t going to ask her about it.

“I’ve heard so much about you” she beamed as she pulled the hesitating boy into a tight hug. She had to stand on her tip-toe’s to do so and it made Ashton giggle a little.

“Thanks, you too” Michael beamed back just as enthusiastic.

 

“You guys must be hungry… I was just about to make lunch, I’ll ask Harry and Lauren to help you guys with your luggage” Anne said, turning around towards the house and calling for the kids from the bottom of the stairs.

“Guys! Ashton’s home!” the boys heard her yell, followed by the sound of the blonde boy’s siblings running down the stairs.

The eldest of the three was almost knocked to the ground as his siblings crashed into him, their arms wrapping around him as if they hadn’t seen them in _years_ instead of just three months.

“Hi bub” the blonde giggled as he ruffled his younger brother’s hair.

 

Lauren was the first to let go of their brother, turning to Michael and smiling sweetly at him.

“Hiya! I am Lauren” she said cheerily.

“I’m Michael” the blue haired boy told her.

“Your hair is really cool” Harry said, staring at it in awe.

“Thank you. I like your shirt” the older boy said in return, pointing at the little boy’s All Time Low t-shirt.

“Ashton bought it for me” the boy beamed proudly, looking up at his older brother for approval, who winked at him.

“Come on, let’s get inside already. I’m freezing my toes off” the music major said, turning towards the car to get his and Michael’s luggage. His roommate shot him an amused look, mouthing ‘seriously?’ at the ridiculous phrase. Ashton giggled, shrugged and lifted the biggest suitcase from his trunk, bringing it inside of the house.

 

“Lunch is ready boys. Why don’t you just put your stuff in the hallway so we can have lunch first?” Ashton’s mother suggested, placing a huge plate full of all kinds of sandwiches on the table.

“I wasn’t sure if you guys would be hungry, but I could always make more if it’s not enough” she said while the four kids sat down at the table, looking from the boys to the pile of food and back to her kids and Michael.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve made plenty” Lauren reassured her with a smirk on her face.

“I don’t know; it looks and smells pretty delicious” Michael joked easily, and Ashton was glad he was already feeling comfortable enough to do so.

“Thank you dear” Anne-Marie smiled at the boy.

“You can eat as much as you want, I really don’t mind to make more.”

Ashton already knew that wouldn’t be necessary; the art major had a pretty big appetite - just like himself - but even with four Michael’s, they wouldn’t manage to finish the plate.

 

“Are you studying music too?” Harry asked the stranger hopefully, looking up at him with big eyes while chewing on his food.

“No” the older boy shook his head.

“I’m an art major. I make drawings and paintings.”

“And he’s _really_ good at it” Ashton quickly added.

“That’s awesome” Lauren beamed, but the youngest kid seemed to be a little disappointed.

“Do you want to become a famous artist?” the boy continued to ask his questions.

“Because Ashton is going to be a famous singer and it would be better if you’d be famous too then” he reasoned. The four older people started to giggle at the statement and Michael and Ashton both shook their head fondly.

“I don’t know; it would be pretty cool though, to be famous together” the blue haired boy answered. He glanced at the music major who was grinning back at him, almost completely forgetting all of this wasn’t real.

“I want to become a famous drummer” Harry said, not caring that they were all laughing at him.

“And Lauren is going to be a famous cheerleader.”

“And I’ll be a famous mum” Anne Marie chimed in, causing the three eldest kids to giggle again and Harry to nod in agreement.

 

“How’d you decide to study art?” Lauren asked her brother’s boyfriend. She was a senior and wasn’t really sure what major to pick after graduation.

“I’ve known ever since I was six. I just love to draw and because I drew so often, I got really good at it at a very early age” he shrugged.

“But aren’t you afraid you won’t be able to find a job after you graduate?” Ashton’s mother asked genuinely.

“I mean, because you always hear it isn’t easy, finding a job as an art or music major” she looked at her son apologetically, reminding him of all the discussions they had when he had announced he was going to study music.

“No, not really. I know I am good at what I do and I’d rather have a crappy job while doing something I love than make loads of money while slowly wasting away in an office” he smiled at the blonde woman, showing her he wasn’t offended by her question at all.

Anne-Marie nodded. She had heard an answer like that from her son before. It was just that she had never had that luxury, being married at a young age and a single mother of three kids later on and all.

 

After dinner – and another five or six curious questions from Harry – Anne-Marie and Ashton showed Michael around the house. It wasn’t that big, so there wasn’t much to show, but it was the thought that counted. Both mother and son wanted the blue haired boy to feel at home and comfortable during his stay.

“And this is Ashton’s old room…” his mother said, showing Michael the last room in the house. The walls were a dark, navy kind of blue and the furniture was either grey or black. His desk chair, the lamp on his bedside table and curtains were a brighter shade of blue. One wall was completely covered in posters, but other than that, the room had a very mature look for a teenage boy.

“Nice” Michael said, taking it all in.

“And where will I sleep?” he asked curiously, turning to his fake boyfriend’s mother. She chuckled a little.

“Oh, here of course. Where else?”

Both boys blushed a little, but for another reason the woman thought.

“I’m not stupid, Michael. The two of you _live_ together, did you really think I’d make you sleep on the couch instead of in my son’s bed?” she giggled, causing Ashton to groan in embarrassment.

“Mum” he grumbled.

She winked at him and then turned around to leave the two to it.

 

Both boys turned to look at each other, none of them sure of what to say or to do. Sure, they had cuddled on the couch before, but sleeping in the same bed was another thing entirely and not something they had prepared for. It was not like they could do anything about that now though.

“Right, so…” Ashton said after a while, his scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He tried not to show the slight panic in his eyes as he prayed to whatever God there was up there that he wouldn’t have yet another nightmare that would wake his pretend-boyfriend up.

“Let’s get unpacked, yeah?”

Michael nodded and carried their stuff inside.

Together they took all their clothes from their bags and put them into Ashton’s old closet. There were still some shirts and jeans he had never taken with him to his new place for when he stayed over, but it wasn’t that much.

 

“Do you want me to show you around town a bit?” Ashton asked in the meantime, wanting to show his roommate the village he’d grow up at.

“Yeah, I’d like that” Michael beamed. He had taken his old photo camera with him and Ashton knew the art major was dying to use it.

And so they quickly and quietly finished their task before leaving the house, needing to be on their own for a bit.

They had quite some things to progress after only an hour of being at Ashton’s childhood home.

 

### ***

 

The two boys decided to walk to town, since it was only a ten minute walk to the rather small and old village. There wasn’t much to do, but it looked extremely nice and there was this very cosy coffee shop Ashton knew Michael would simple _adore._

The blue haired boy had his camera in his hands, stopping every now and then to take a snap of the greyish winter scene around them, of a small bird landing only two feet away from the couple or of an old, abandoned looking house that was standing alongside the road they were walking on. The music major patiently waited for him, giggling a little when Michael sat down on his knees to snap another picture of some sort of plant, mumbling something about ‘aesthetic’ under his breath as he did.

In the meantime Ashton told his pretend-boyfriend stories about when he was a kid, when he lived here and what not. Most stories weren’t all that interesting but Michael seemed to adore them, so the blonde didn’t really stop.

 

After walking around and going into a few random shops, the two boys settled down in the coffee shop, and as expected: Michael absolutely loved it.

“It looks so cute in here!” he beamed.

“Like in the movies.”

His eyes were shining, reflecting the fairy lights which were hanging all around the place, a soft smile around his lips. The table they were seated at was so small, that Ashton could feel Michael’s knee bumping against his own every now and then. It was comforting though.

“I know. I love it here” Ashton murmured.

 

“Hey Ash” a female voice suddenly said, causing both boys to look up. The blonde boy recognized her to be an old classmate of his. He hadn’t seen her in _years_ though.

“Oh, hi Candice” he smiled politely at her. They had never really been friends, but she was nice enough.

“What are you doing back here? Didn’t you move to London a few years ago?”

“Yeah, I did, but my family still lives here. I don’t come back all that often, but we’ve got a wedding next week, so…” he explained with a shrug and a smile on his face.

“Oh, right… Jack’s getting married, right?”

“Yeah” Ashton nodded.

“Awesome. And who’s this?” she asked curiously, looking at Michael then.

“This is Michael, my roommate” the blonde said, not realizing he had made a mistake until the older boy locked eyes with him. He blushed a little, not knowing how to fix it now.

“And his boyfriend” Michael beamed enthusiastically though, intertwining their fingers on top of the table to prove it to her.

“And my boyfriend” the eldest agreed easily, smiling at the boy across from the table and squeezing his hand as he wished Candice wouldn’t see right through them.

“Aww, that’s cute” the girl smiled genuinely at them.

“Does Ethan know yet?”

“No, why?” Ashton asked, the words coming out a little harder than he had intended them too. Michael shot him a little worried look and started rubbing circles into the skin on top of his hand.

“Oh, I just heard he was excited to see you again. But forget about him; you’ve got Michael know” she winked at the boys and then took their order, walking off to get them Michael his coffee and Ashton his hot chocolate.

 

“Does everyone know each other here?” the youngest asked as soon as the girl was gone, an amused smile on his face.

“Yeah, pretty much” Ashton chuckled a little awkwardly, trying to forget about the mention of his ex’s name.

“Sorry about that; I just-“

“It’s okay” Michael interrupted him with a wink. Ashton wasn’t sure if the blue haired boy even knew what he was referring too because, in all honestly, he didn’t know what exactly he was sorry for either. But he guessed Michael still knew what he had meant and he was thankful for that.

 

After that, they decided to drop the topic and go back to background stories while finishing their drinks.


	9. Chapter 9

### Friday, October 14th

“Am I Ellen DeGeneres?” Ashton asked, growing more and more frustrated because he couldn’t figure out who he was supposed to be.

Harry and Michael had both already guessed their personality; Ashton blamed it on theirs being too easy.

“No” Lauren giggled.

“Maybe you should ask more questions instead of just calling random names” she chuckled at him, causing the blonde to roll his eyes.

“Am I Smurfette?” Anne Marie asked since it was her turn then, causing Lauren and Ashton both to groan and the other two boys to cheer.

“Yeah” Lauren admitted, not liking how yet another family member had beaten her at the game she usually was so good at.

Their mother took the sticky note from her forehead and chuckled at the sloppy cursive handwriting, telling her her youngest son had picked the personality for her. He didn’t know that many celebrities yet so he usually went for cartoon characters.

“So, I am a girl known from a Disney movie and I am sorta a princess but not really…” Lauren started to sum up when it was her turn next. Michael and Ashton locked eyes with each other and giggled; the blue haired boy had picked ‘ _Lottie La Bouff’_ from the Disney movie ‘ _The princess and the frog’_ after finding out she was a huge Disney fan but the girl wasn’t able to figure out this one. And that was probably a first.

“Am I a main character of the movie I’m in?” the girl asked then, finally figuring it out after guessing wrong way too many times.

“No” Harry and Ashton answered in unison, causing Lauren to furrow her brows while she thought of who she could possibly be.

“A side character who is a princess but not really…” she mumbled, obviously thinking out loud.

“It’s my turn” her older brother quickly interrupted her, hoping he’d figure it out before her because he didn’t want to lose yet another round.

“Am I Oprah?”

“No. Am I Charlotte from the princess and the frog?”

“Yes!” Anne Marie beamed at her daughter. Ashton groaned once again and dropped his head so it bumped against the dinner table, whining a little because it hurt more than he had expected.

“Aww, you were so close Ash” Michael chuckled, placing a comforting hand on top of his thigh, just a little above his knee.

“But not close enough” the blonde pouted at his roommate as he took the yellow note from his face which read ‘ _Queen Latifah’_. His fake boyfriend smiled and made a kissy sound at him in return.

 

The fake couple had found out it was quite easy to pretend to be a couple with Lauren and Harry around, since they could just play the ‘ _keep it PDA for the kids’_ card. They weren’t sure how to manage with only adults around yet, but Ashton was convinced they’d just figure it out along the way.

 

“I wanna think of someone for Michael now!” Harry said then, already reaching for the sticky notes and pens in the middle of the table.

“Oh, no way, young man! It’s way past your bed time; it’s even past Lauren’s bed time” Anne Marie said, stopping her son with only her words. She had wanted to send him to bed after the last round, but it wasn’t every day that Ashton and his boyfriend visited them, so she had let him stay up a little longer.

“Aww, mum, please” the boy pouted at her.

“No. You’ll have plenty of time to play games with Ashton and Michael the next few days. Now go brush your teeth; I’ll be right up to tuck you in, alright?”

`The youngest pouted some more, but then finally got up and shambled towards the stairs.

“You too Lauren.”

“What? That’s not fair, Harry’s five years younger than me…” she argued.

“You’ve got the hen’s do tomorrow though; you’ll need the rest.”

At the mention of the party, the girl’s face lit up.

“I promised you could come home as late as the rest does because I trust they’ll keep an eye on you, but only if you go to bed now…”

“Okay” the girl agreed easily, getting up to kiss her mother and brother on the cheek.

“Goodnight Michael” she giggled, ruffling the older boy’s blue hair instead of kissing his cheek too.

“Night” he beamed back, grinning at the girl who was so much like her brother sometimes.

 

The three adults moved from the table to the couch, Michael sitting down first and looking at Ashton expectantly, who – after some hesitation – sat down right next to him, pulling his legs up and resting his side against the art major who put his arm around him in return.

The blonde watched his mother look at the two of them and smile brightly, obviously not minding their closeness at all.

“Do you boys want something to drink?” she asked, already walking towards the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of red wine.

“I’d like a beer please” Michael said politely.

“A glass of wine would be great” Ashton smiled tiredly at his mother while Michael absentmindedly started drawing patterns into the skin of his upper arm, a cute little habit of his.

The music major then cocked his head back so it was resting on top of his fake boyfriend’s shoulder, looking up at him through his lashes. Michael looked funny upside down.

“Do you mind if we turn in early too? Tomorrow’s going to be wild” he chuckled a little, referring to Jack’s stag do.

Michael hummed and shook his head and then thanked Anne Marie who handed him his drink.

The blonde wondered whether the art major was nervous for tomorrow, to meet his cousins and Jack’s friends, to hang out with guys their age and pretend to be in love with Ashton. He planned to talk about it with the boy later, in private, because he didn’t want his friend to do anything he wasn’t comfortable with.

 

“Do you know what you’re going to do tomorrow yet?” Anne Marie asked curiously while sipping on her wine.

Ashton shook his head.

“No; Ben and Luke wouldn’t tell.”

“Do you know what the girls are gonna do?”

“Yeah, Lauren said they’re gonna go to the spa for pampering and workshops, then they’re going out for dinner and then they’ll go to clubs and bars and what not…”

“Why did I even ask” Ashton chuckled while shaking his head. He really hoped his cousin’s had planned some more action for tomorrow.

 

As soon as the two boys had finished their drinks, they bid Anne Marie a good night and climbed up the stairs. They brushed their teeth side by side, something that felt way too domestic and pretty much melted Ashton’s heart.

 

And then it was time to go to bed.

Ashton couldn’t help but feel a little awkward as they got undressed, not sure whether he was allowed to look as Michael pulled his shirt off or talk to him while pushing his own pants down.

Both boys usually only slept in their boxers, but now decided to put on pyjama bottoms, since they had to sleep in the same bed and all.

Getting in was quite awkward, in Ashton’s opinion, since they both laid down and didn’t really dare to move since then.

The blonde stared up at the ceiling, his hands folded on top of his chest and thinking about how he would never fall asleep this way, his body way too tense to relax completely. 

 

“This is ridiculous” Michael mumbled after five minutes of complete silence, shifting so he was lying on his side and facing Ashton, sounding a little frustrated.

“We really gotta stop acting like we’re strangers who are pretending to be in love…”

Ashton turned so he was lying on his side as well, looking straight into Michael’s eyes despite the darkness around them.

“And start acting like Ashton and Michael again.”

The eldest sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

“You’re right. I’m sorry; we’re being weird.”

“I know, and it’s probably normal. But I don’t want to feel awkward to be close to you for an entire week, so…” he trailed off, reaching out so he could brush his fingers against the older boy’s cheeks, letting his hand rest on top of Ashton’s hand afterwards. The boy smiled weakly at him, loving the feeling of Michael’s small, warm hand covering his own.

“Me neither” he promised.

 

“Are you excited for tomorrow?”

“I’m excited to see my cousins again” the blonde answered truthfully.

“But?” the art major asked while searching Ashton’s eyes. It made the boy smile, knowing Michael knew him so well to hear all the ‘but’s’ he never said out loud.

“But I’m afraid they will not believe us. Or that you won’t like them or whatever…” Ashton shrugged helplessly.

“Aren’t you afraid they won’t like me?” Michael asked, looking a little amused.

“No.”

The blue haired boy cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m sure they’ll love you. And if they don’t, it’ll be their loss.”

“Aww” Michael cooed, tightening his grip on Ashton’s hand for a bit before loosening it again. Ashton smiled shyly at that.

“I’m sure I’ll love them too. They’re related to you after all” the youngest winked and Ashton was thankful he couldn’t see him blush in the dark. Or so he hoped.

 

As Michael’s eyes started to fall shut and his breathing eventually evened out, Ashton lay awake, worrying about seeing Ethan again after about a year. He also worried about his ex- and current boyfriend meeting each other. He had no idea how Ethan would react, whether he’d act as if nothing was wrong or if he would bother Ashton and Michael about it. Maybe he’d even get mad, act jealous and try to win Ashton back.

The blonde played with the other boy’s fingers until he too could finally fall asleep.

 

### ***

### Saturday, October 15th

 

“Ready?” Ashton asked as soon as he had put on his coat and scarf, looking at Michael expectantly. There were only a few strands of blue hair poking out from underneath his black beanie and it looked just so _cute_.

“Yeah” said boy smiled, grabbing Ashton’s outstretched hand and following the boy outside.

 

It was a short walk to Ben’s house, where everyone would gather before going to Jack’s work to ‘kidnap’ him, and the two uni students spend it in a comfortable silence. Ashton thought back of that morning, when he had woken up to the sight of a peacefully snoring Michael, his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes closed. He had laid there for a minute or two, simply watching the boy until he figured he was being weird and got up to make his family and roommate breakfast, just like he always did at home.

Michael had joined him about five minutes later, probably being woken up from Ashton getting out of bed and walking out of the room. He had wrapped his arms around his torso and kissed his shoulder like he had done about two weeks ago, when it had been nothing but ‘practise’.

Lauren had walked in on them and wolf-whistled jokingly, causing both boys to blush at being caught – even though that was sort of the goal here - and the girl to giggle at them.

 

Michael had sat so close to Ashton during breakfast that their shoulders and legs had been touching from their hips to their knees and it had been absolutely _perfect_.

In fact; it had been so nice that the blonde had forgotten all about his worries.

But now they were only one street away from Ben’s house where everybody would be waiting for them and they all came creeping back.

Michael seemed to sense this, for he squeezed his hand to gain his attention and looked at him with a concerned look.

“You alright?”

“Yeah” he smiled, wanting so badly to believe it himself.

“Just a little nervous.”

“It’ll be fine, Ash” Michael reassured him just as they rounded the corner and stood in front of Ben’s place.

The youngest pressed a kiss to his temple while Ashton took a deep breath and then they rang the doorbell.

 

“Ashton!” Ben cheered.

“It’s good to see you again man!” he said while embracing him and patting his back a little too hard. Ashton didn’t mind.

“You too, how’ve you been?” he asked the older man.

“Good. Very busy with Jack getting married and all, y’know?”

Ashton hummed and nodded.

“And you must be Michael” the eldest said, looking at Michael with curious eyes then.

“Yeah, and I reckon you’re Ben” he said, shaking the man’s outstretched hand.

“The one and only” he answered, grinning at the boy as he pulled of his beanie and revealed his blue hair.

“I can see why Ash picked you” he winked then, causing Michael to smirk at his blushing roommate.

“Come on, let’s meet the rest.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it guys.
> 
> I am pretty confident you're going to LOVE the next chapter ;)

### Saturday, October 15th

Everybody was already there when Ashton and Michael stepped foot into Ben’s living room. All eyes landed on them – and specifically on Michael – right away, but the art major didn’t seem to mind at all. The eldest admired that about him.

“Everybody; this is Michael, Ashton’s boyfriend” Ben announced. The blue haired boy proudly wrapped an arm around his fake-boyfriend’s waist to pull him closer while Ashton shyly buried his face into the crook of the younger boy’s neck.

Multiple ‘aww’s’ were heard and one boy – probably Calum, Ashton figured – wolf-whistled at them.

 

Ashton then regained himself and stood up straight with his roommate’s arm still around him to introduce Michael to the others properly.

“So, that’s Luke, my youngest cousin and his boyfriend Calum, Jack’s best friend and the best man Ethan, and then there’s Dean, Colin and Nick” the music major said as he pointed out everyone in the room. He didn’t look Ethan, or anyone else for that matter, in the eyes as he introduced his ex. Michael, of course, knew how he felt about the man though (or so he thought), so he tightened his grip once again so Ashton was forced to stand as closely to him as possible and somehow, it made him feel so incredibly safe. He thanked the boy with a soft smile and then casted his eyes to the floor, still not sure how to act with so many people around, despite knowing all of them pretty well.

Michael seemed to have figured it all out though, so it would be alright.

 

“Okay, so we really need to get going now!” Ben said suddenly, clasping his hands together and getting everybody to get up and leave.

Ben, Luke, Calum, Michael and Ashton all piled into one car while the four others got in the other. Luke sat in the front while Ashton was squeezed in between Luke’s and his own boyfriend in the back. It probably should’ve been uncomfortable but Michael had placed his hand on his knee while the blonde rested his head on the younger boy’s shoulder, so it really wasn’t.

 

“So, Michael… Tell us a little about yourself” Ben said as he looked at the boy through the rear view mirror. Luke curiously turned a little so he was able to face the guy and both brothers smiled when they noticed the position the couple was in.

“Uh, I’m twenty-one years old and I’m an art major…”

“He’s really good” Ashton cut in, like he always did when Michael told people what he did.

“Shut up” Michael said without any heat behind it, rolling his eyes fondly.

“You are though” the eldest argued, earning a soft chuckle from the raven haired boy on the other side of him.

 

“So, how’d you two meet?” Luke wanted to know next.

Michael and Ashton locked eyes, wordlessly deciding who was going to tell it. The blonde nodded towards the younger boy with his head still on his shoulder, giving him the honour. He was better at talking bullshit after all.

“We were both looking for a roommate because my last roommate dropped out of school and Ashton’s was a downright dick and so we found each other on a website. We talked for a while and Ashton moved in with me not even a month later…”

He shrugged easily.

“I opened the front door and was met with the most attractive human being I had ever laid eyes on, so I obviously was a little intimidated. But then he introduced himself and giggled like a schoolgirl and tripped over the doorstep and I realised he was so much more than just a pretty face and, I don’t know… I’ve been head over heels ever since. So I asked him out after not even a week of living together and well… I bet you can figure out the rest.”

Ashton looked down at the hand on his knee and blushed with a small smile on his face. He tried to tell himself this was all just an act, and Michael was just making it all up because that is what had been their plan all along but it wasn’t easy at all. Not with how easy Michael made it sound and how badly the blonde wanted all of this to be true.

The other three chuckled, obviously loving the story the new guy had told them.

 

Before anyone could ask the blue haired boy yet another question, an old Green Day song came on and Michael and Ashton both started to chant along like they always did during car rides, the art major not minding the three strangers in the car hearing him at all.

Calum looked at them funnily for a bit but then joined in, Luke joining eventually too. Ashton knew he was a bit shy to sing in front of strangers, despite having an incredible good voice.

The music major liked to think they sounded pretty good together, and if the smile on his oldest cousin’s face was anything to go by, he was right.

“You like Green Day too?” Luke asked Michael enthusiastically when the song came to an end.

He nodded fiercely.

“Love them.”

The youngest of the five looked straight at Ashton then.

“Keep him.”

 

The two cars stopped in front of Jack’s work not even ten minutes later and then the nine boys tried to walk into the store as quietly as possible, which turned out way harder than expected.

They found Jack in an isle in the back, stacking cans of soup with a bored expression on his face. He looked up as the group walked up to them and started to grin right away.

“Oh, thank god; you haven’t actually forgotten about me” was all he could say before Ethan pulled him into a tight bro-hug. Ashton looked away, somehow not being able to watch it.

“Let’s go man!”

‘But my boss-“

“Already knows you’re leaving. Now, come on” Ethan chuckled, wrapping an arm around the bachelor’s shoulders and leading him out of the store.

“Oh, hi. You must be Michael” Jack said once he spotted him. His best friend looked at the blue haired boy annoyed, as if he was offended just because Jack was paying Michael attention instead of him.

“Yeah, and you must be Jack.”

“Yup. Nice to meet you, man!”

“You too.”

And with that, the group got back in the car and drove towards their destination, Calum, Luke, Michael and Ashton talking about everything and nothing while Ben quietly focussed on the road in front of them and listened to their conversations.

 

### ***

 

Ashton was running across the football field, panting as he dribbled the ball towards the opponent’s goal. His fake boyfriend was the goalie at the moment, looking absolutely ridiculous in his huge bubble. He was jumping up and down, pretending to be a real, proper goalie and causing Ashton to lose focus.

 

When the blonde had found out they were going to play bubble football, he hadn’t expected it to be this much fun and this hard at the same time.

His legs would run as hard as they usually did but he didn’t go as fast. And it wasn’t easy to keep track of what happened around him thanks to the bubble around him blurring his vision.

The guys on the other team – and sometimes even his own teammates – kept bumping into him for fun and though it all was very hilarious, all the falling and rolling over and trying to get back up was starting to hurt his legs quite a bit.

 

Ashton was now only ten metres away from the goal, getting ready to kick the ball towards – and hopefully in - it. Ethan, who unfortunately was on the same team as him, came running forward out of nowhere, crashing into Michael way harder than necessary and causing him to lose his balance and trip, leaving the goal open.

The music major was about to take advantage of the situation and shoot the ball into the net but then he heard his roommate cry out in pain. He watched as the boy’s head collided with the goalpost, the air bubble around him apparently not being able to prevent it from hurting, and then he fell to the ground.

Ashton abandoned the football right away and ran towards his fake boyfriend, kneeling down next to him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, already trying to get out of his own bubble so he could help Michael out of his. The referee, who was someone from the organisation, came to his rescue, helping him and then turning towards the blue haired boy. In the meantime, all other players had surrounded them, watching it all happen.

“It’s nothing, just bumped my head” the boy chuckled sheepishly as soon as he was freed, but Ashton didn’t believe him for one second. He knelt back down next to the boy’s head and carefully placed his hand against the side of the younger boy’s cheek, trying not to come to close to the wound on the boy’s forehead.

“You’re bleeding” he said.

“Oh.”

“Let’s get you to the first aid” the referee said, helping Michael up.

As the three of them walked off, Ashton could hear Ethan ask if they could continue their game yet.

 

### ***

 

When the couple came back, walking hand in hand and Michael with a rather big plaster on his forehead, the game was just finished. The art major’s team had won – all thanks to Calum, really – but Ashton didn’t mind all that much.

Michael was okay, and that was all that mattered to him.

“Hey” Ben smiled once he noticed the two.

“You alright Mike?”

“Yeah” Michael grinned truthfully.

“Good to hear, man” the eldest said, clasping a hand on the new boy’s back.

Michael had only met the bunch of guys about three hours ago, but it was already like he had known all of them for _years._ He fit right in.

 

“So” Jack said, clasping in his hands and then rubbing them together while he looked around the circle of boys.

“What’s up next?”

“That’s a surprise” Luke grinned, since he and Ben were the only ones who knew the answer.

“Right…”

“Let’s get going then!”

 

After all boys had taken a shower and had gotten dressed, they got into the same cars as before. Calum was in the front this time and Ashton was in the middle in the back again. Said boy was holding Michael’s hand, rubbing circles into the top of it with his thumb and kept glancing at him, making sure he was still feeling good enough to go on.

The wound might not have been that big, but the music major worried nevertheless.

 

“Do you think Ethan did that on purpose?” Calum asked after he had been quiet for a while.

“What?” Ben asked, looking at the boy next to him real quick before returning his attention to the road.

“Well, I mean… He didn’t seem sorry at all and, come on, there’s no way he accidentally bumped into him _that hard._ ”

“I don’t know” Luke mumbled, obviously not wanting to judge his brother’s best friend.

Ashton didn’t say anything, because he simply _knew_ why Ethan had done it.

He knew the boy better than anyone else, probably even better than Jack did. He didn’t want to ruin the party by telling the others that though; so he didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come find me on Tumblr!  
> Abbypd.tumblr.com


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoomp there it is

### Saturday, October 15th

“Mike! Come on and dance with me!” Ashton giggled as he started pulling on his roommate’s hand, trying to get him to join him. Both boys had drunken the same amount of alcohol, yet Ashton was a giggling and sweating mess from all his dancing around while Michael had just watched him while chatting with Dean and Ben, who were nowhere near drunk either.

“I can’t dance” the blue haired boy chuckled as he said it, but it caused Ashton to pout either way.

“I’ll teach you. Come one, please!” he tried again, jutting out his bottom lip and making his eyes bigger like he had seen Calum do to Luke earlier. He wasn’t sure Michael would fall for it like his cousin had though.

“Pleaseee” Ashton knew he was downright begging by now but he was too drunk to care, especially since his roommate rolled his eyes and finally caved in.

He smiled sweetly at the boy as he got up from the stool he had been sitting on all night and then pulled him towards the dancefloor. It was crowded, but that was just how Ashton liked it. He didn’t go out much, but not because he hated it; he simply liked staying in with his roommate _more_.

 

Once the two had found a spot where they could sorta move without bumping into everyone the entire time, they faced each other and suddenly, Ashton felt a little shy. Michael was looking at him expectantly though, so he shook it off with the help of the booze in his system and gently took the younger boy’s hands in his own, placing them in his own hips. Then he wrapped his arms around the blue haired boy’s neck, still making sure there was some space left between their bodies.

Ashton started to move his hips to the beat of the music, forcing the other boy to move with him. He tried not to think of how close their faces were now, and how easy it would’ve been to just lean in and kiss the art major. They hadn’t properly kissed ever since they had arrived here and two days really was too long without feeling Michael’s lips pressed against his own.

This was different though, it was in front of people and not just ‘practise’ but the real deal. Ashton wanted it, but he wasn’t sure if it was alright with his roommate. And so he did nothing but dance and gaze into Michael’s eyes.  

 

It was as if with every second passing, the couple moved closer to each other and before Ashton’s intoxicated mind even realised it, their bodies were flush against each other.

The blonde boy had his arms wrapped tightly around Michael’s neck and the other boy’s hands had travelled a little lower as their chests were pressed together, their two bodies moving as one.

It felt as if Ashton had done nothing but stare at his roommate, forgetting all about the rest of the world or the other eight boys doing god knows what somewhere. The music major wasn’t even sure they were still in this same club as the two of them, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. All he could think about was the boy in his arms and how pretty he looked with his blue, sweaty hair sticking to his forehead and his eyes never leaving Ashton’s.

 

“Oh my god, just kiss him already!” Calum groaned next to them, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and startling the couple quite a bit. Ashton looked from the kiwi boy to his pretend-boyfriend, who was smiling sheepishly at him and then shrugged as if he were saying ‘ _well, we don’t really have a choice now’_.

The blonde stared at the lips which were still incredibly close, their bodies still moving to the beat. He was the first to lean in and press his lips to Michael firmly, his hands cupping his face while the younger boy still had his on the small of his back.

In the back of his drunken mind, Ashton knew they should probably keep it PDA, but he really couldn’t stop himself from sucking on Michael’s bottom lip and then licking into his mouth, loving the taste of some sweet drink on his tongue. The art major’s grip tightened on him as if he were trying to pull Ashton impossibly closer to him, letting the blonde take control of the kiss.

 

One of Ashton’s hand moved to the back of Michael’s head, his fingers moving through the short hair there as they broke apart for air, only to go right back to kissing. The blonde was pretty sure he was in heaven, with the feeling of the art major’s body pressed against his, their tongues meeting each other halfway over and over again.

Michael jerked his hips forward a little then, brushing his own crotch against Ashton’s who whined into the kiss a little. He wasn’t sure if the blue haired boy had done it on purpose or was just trying a different kind of dancing but he decided to do it back either way.

It didn’t take long before both boys could feel themselves getting hard from grinding together and kissing non-stop. Ashton had long forgotten about the other guys by now, not even considering they could probably see him like this, sweating, panting and desperate to be even closer to his boyfriend.

“Wanna go home?” Michael breathed against his lips when they broke apart for air again and the eldest felt himself nodding before Michael had even finished his sentence.

“Yeah… Yeah; let’s go” he said softly, without making a move to actually leave.

Thank god for Michael, who was nowhere near drunk and could carefully yet quickly lead him out of the club and into a cab.

 

During the short ride, Ashton was plastered to the blue haired boy’s side, peppering kisses all over his jaw, neck and shoulder and every other naked bit of skin he could reach.

Somewhere along the way, he realised there was no one to put a show on for anymore, but neither of the boys seemed to care, so he pushed that thought to the back of his blurry mind, figuring there would be time to think about all that later.

He had wanted to do this ever since he had first met the art major and now that he was drunk, he was finally feeling brave enough to actually go through with it. Michael hadn’t pushed him off yet, so that was a good sign, Ashton figured.

 

The younger of the two kept shushing the giggling blonde as he guided him into the house and up the stairs to his room, his hands on Ashton’s hips as he walked behind him and steered him into the right direction.

Once they had finally reached their temporary shared bedroom, Michael let go of the slightly shorter boy and he took advantage of that by turning around and wrapping his arms around the boy’s torso and kissing him again. The art major kissed him back right away while slowly walking them towards the bed, one hand cupping Ashton’s face while the other rubbed his back.

The moment the older boy’s calves hit the edge of his bed, he let himself fall on top of it, pulling Michael along with him and giggling loudly as he landed on top of him.

Michael chuckled fondly at him and then shut him up by connecting their mouths again, earning a soft moan from the boy below him.

The blonde then clumsily started to reach for the hem of Michael’s t-shirt, trying to pull it off of him. The other boy seemed to understand what he was trying to do pretty soon, sitting up real quick to pull his shirt off and moving back to continue kissing Ashton. He rolled his hips so his own hard on rubbed against the blonde boy’s, continuing what he had started in the club and earning yet another beautiful, breathless moan from the boy beneath him.

“Fuck” the eldest stuttered, clawing at Michael’s now naked back to try and get him _closer_ while jerking his hips up to meet him halfway.

 

“You look fucking gorgeous like this Ash” the younger boy then breathed, staring at his body with hungry eyes and it was only then that he realised he was now shirtless too.

Before he could reply, Michael had already ducked down to suck a love bite into the skin just below his collar bone, moving down towards his nipple once he was satisfied with the bruise.

Ashton threw his head back, squeezing his eyes shut as Michael’s tongue circled his sensitive, pink bud before wrapping his mouth around it and sucking. Ashton felt as if he was in heaven.

 

“Hi boys, you’re home early… I didn’t really expect you home until –“ Anne Marie already started talking before even opening the door fully, Michael moving away from her son so quickly he almost fell out of the bed. Ashton, despite his drunken state, realised what was happening and quickly pulled the blankets up to hide his boner and love-bite, staring at his mum with wide eyes.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry, I really should’ve knocked” his mother awkwardly squeaked while turning around and closing the door behind her.

“Be safe!” both boys could hear her say while walking down the stairs.

This forced a hysteric giggle out of the blonde, his drunken state making it seem all very hilarious to him.

 

When he reached out his hand towards Michael, wanting him to continue what they had been doing now, the blue haired boy didn’t really respond to him though.

“Maybe we should go to sleep” he mumbled instead, not meeting the blonde boy’s eyes. Without even pulling off his skinny jeans, Michael turned on his side, his back facing the elder of the two and pulled the blankets up.

“What?” Ashton mumbled, not catching up.

“You’re drunk. We should go to sleep.”

“Okay” the blonde gave in, sighing a little as he did. He scooped over so he was next to his roommate, pressing his bare chest to his naked back and throwing his arm around Michael, making him the little spoon.

He kissed the back of the boy’s neck.

“Goodnight babe”

“Night Ash” the blue haired boy whispered back.

 

### ***

### Sunday, October 16th

 

Ashton woke up with what had to be the _worst headache ever._ He groaned when he heard the sound of his siblings and mother walking around the house and making way too much noise.

He stayed where he was for a little bit, not daring to move, afraid it would hurt him even more if he did. When he was finally coming to his senses, he realized his roommate was nowhere to be seen, the boy’s side of the bed empty and cold. Which was quite weird, since Michael _never_ woke up before Ashton. Especially not on a Sunday.

So Ashton glanced at the alarm on his bedside table, only to find out it wasn’t even ten a.m. yet. Which, honestly, made the whole situation even more bizarre.

 

He stayed still for a few more minutes, thinking back of the day before; about the bubble football and the accident, going out for dinner and then going to several clubs. He only then realized one other thing: he was still wearing his jeans.

The boy looked down at himself, at his naked chest and the skinnies which hadn’t really felt uncomfortable until now. He rubbed a hand over his face while trying to remember what exactly had happened near the end of the stag’s party.

 

When it seemed the memories wouldn’t come back to him anytime soon, he hoisted himself out of bed and walked over to the bathroom to pee and brush his teeth.

The boy looked into the mirror, staring at his tired eyes and the bags beneath them. His hair was a mess, sticking into every possible direction. He had some bruises covering his body from playing bubble football and… a hickey near his collarbone. Ashton reached out for it, brushed his fingers over it, trying to remember how he had gotten it. Or rather; from whom.

If the blonde was being honest, he couldn’t imagine he had gotten it from anyone who wasn’t Michael, yet he refused to let himself believe it actually was from the art major.

Realizing he’d never find out on his own anyways, he figured he’d just go downstairs, in the hope he’d find the answer to his question there.

 

He walked off of the stairs slowly, not really sure why he was feeling so nervous all of sudden. It was just… If the love bite was actually from Michael, things would probably be a little weird. But if it wasn’t, it could be even worse. Or not.

Maybe Michael didn’t remember the night either and he’d never find out.

Ashton wasn’t even sure which option he liked best.

 

“Good morning” his mother chirped when the boy walked into the kitchen.

He sat down next to his pretend boyfriend while mumbling a ‘good morning’ back.

“Hi baby” Michael smiled at him, though it didn’t really reach his eyes. Maybe he was hangover too, or maybe Ashton was just seeing things. He leaned in to kiss the boy’s cheek for his mother’s sake and then stole a bite from his cereal, being too lazy to get up and get his own.

“How are you feeling?”

“Terrible. My head feels like it’s gonna explode.”

“I warned you…” Michael sang, causing Anne Marie to giggle a little. She turned around from where she was doing the dishes and handed her son a glass of water and two aspirins.

“Thanks” he mumbled while taking the painkillers and downing them quickly, wanting for the headache to just be over already.

“Don’t you have a headache?” he then questioned the blue haired boy.

“You drank just as much as I did.”

“Yeah, but I told you; I don’t get drunk that easily. I’m fine” he shrugged.

“Lucky you” Ashton grumbled in reply.

 

“So, did you guys have fun yesterday? I came to check on you when you got home but you were kinda… in the middle of _something_ ” Anne Marie winked at her son, trying to hide the smirk on her face and failing.

And that’s how he ended up remembering the moment his mother had walked in on him and his pretend-boyfriend. They had been shirtless, kissing and grinding up against each other. Michael had been the one to put the love-bite there and he had been praising him, swallowing every drunken moan Ashton had made.

A blush overtook the older boy’s face right away, causing the woman to giggle. When Michael met his eyes, he looked away quickly, pretending to find his cereal the most interesting thing in the world all of sudden. Ashton only then realized the younger boy hadn’t been that drunk and therefor probably remembered _everything_ too, and way better than Ashton did.

The music major closed his eyes and let his head drop on top of the table, hoping his mother would figure it was just because of the headache and not because he literally wanted nothing more but for the ground to swallow him whole right now; only so he didn’t have to talk to Michael about it and pretend it was no big deal at all.

This really was a big fucking deal after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hope you guys enjoyed it!  
> Please let me know what you think :)


	12. Chapter 12

### Sunday, October 16th

“You’re being quiet Ash…” Lauren pointed out when she, her brother and her brother’s boyfriend were seated on the couch, watching crappy cartoons since they were all too tired to do something productive. Harry and Anne Marie were away for the youngest had to play a football match.

“He’s just hungover” Michael said, sticking up for the blonde right away. Ashton was glad he did, because he probably wouldn’t have been able to come up with a lie without stuttering or blushing. If he was being honest, he was kinda put out by the entire ‘drunk hook up’ thing with Michael, and thanks to that, the entire morning had been downright _awkward_.

 

Ashton had made out with his crush, who was currently pretending to be his boyfriend but who was actually just his friend and roommate at the same time, and probably even more and he didn’t even fucking remember it.

He couldn’t recall what it had felt like to be pressed up against the slightly taller boy, to have his arms wrapped around him and to have him pressing his hips into his to get the two of them off. He was pretty sure it had happened, yet he didn’t actually remember it. He also didn’t remember the taste of Michael’s alcohol flavoured lips or the feeling of his mouth sucking on his skin so hard it left a bruise. The purple spot itself was the only proof it had happened at all.

 

So the blonde locked eyes with Michael shyly and smiled at him as to thank him. Michael seemed to understand, for he smiled back and nodded his head once at him. Just because their real relationship was currently a little messy, didn’t mean they could stop acting like their pretend relationship was anything but perfect, and they both knew that.

 

“Cuddle?” Michael asked during yet another commercial, about fifteen minutes of absolute silence later.

Ashton had taken the chair, leaving Lauren and Michael to sit on the couch. He had hoped his sister would think it was just because she was there with them and not because things weren’t okay between the couple or whatever. But now that the blue haired boy requested Ashton to join him on the couch, he had no other choice.

So the blonde faked a smile and slowly got up to get to the blue haired boy, walking right into his outstretched arms and letting him pull him in his lap. His body was tense as he leaned against the younger boy, his muscles unable to relax.

Michael probably felt it and proceeded to press kisses to his cheek and temple, his fingers effortlessly finding the purple bruise beneath his shirt and brushing over it, causing Ashton to shiver slightly. He had no idea why his pretend boyfriend was doing all this, but played along anyways by giggling and pressing even closer to the boy beneath him. It did make him feel a little better though. Michael always seemed to have that effect on him.

“Ew, get a room” his sister pretended to gag. Ashton stuck out his tongue at her.

“Ew, get a boyfriend” he shot back playfully, causing Michael to chuckle softly.

“Don’t be mean, Ash…” he said as he tightened his arms around the boy’s middle.

“I’m leaving” the girl then announced and got up.

“What, no – I was just kidding!” the eldest of the three squeaked, not liking the idea of his sister being mad at him.

“Relax, big bro” she chuckled.

“I have to go to a bridesmaids’ meeting” she said.

“Oh” Ashton said, relaxing instantly.

“Right.”

 

The two watched the girl walked out of the living room and eventually out of the house. As soon as she was out of sight, Ashton moved to stand up from Michael’s lap. The boy released him right away.

Ashton didn’t go too far though, just sat down on the other side of the couch where Lauren had sat, making sure not to be within touching distance of the art major.

He wasn’t sure why, since he always loved to be close to the other boy, but he just didn’t feel comfortable to cuddle with Michael right now; with no one to put on a show for. He felt stupid and was embarrassed for letting himself go like that the night before, was afraid he had said or done something wrong, despite them both knowing he had been drunk.

 

“Ash, maybe we should talk about what ha-“

And that’s when the doorbell rang, interrupting Michael abruptly.

The curly blonde furrowed his brows, curious to whom it could be and moved to open the front door. But not without shooting Michael an apologizing look. The boy was probably right; Ashton had just been too scared to say it out loud.

 

“He’s alive!” Calum’s cheered when Ashton opened his front door, revealing Luke and his boyfriend.

“What are you guys doing here?” the eldest asked.

“Chilling” Luke shrugged.

“Mum’s going crazy, so we needed to escape.”

“And you decided to come here because…”

His cousin shrugged again.

“It was the nearest place we could think of” Calum answered easily.

“Now will you let us in or what?”

“Oh, right” Ashton giggled sheepishly, stepping aside to let the couple in.

“Hi Mike” Luke beamed.

“How’s your head?” he asked, pointing at his own forehead, where Michael still had his plaster.

“Oh, it doesn’t hurt at all actually” the blue haired boy shrugged.

“Good.”

 

Calum sat down in a single chair while Luke took Ashton’s place on the couch, leaving the eldest with only two options. He could either sit on a single chair himself or sit right next to Michael. The art major shot him a look, as if to dare him to take the chair and so Ashton plopped down next to him on the couch, accidentally falling half on top the other boy’s lap.

He groaned a little as the music major’s elbow crashed into his side.

“I’m sorry baby” the blonde frowned, kissing the younger boy’s cheek.

“Oh my god, there they go again” Calum groaned way too loud, obviously just teasing them.

“As if they haven’t had enough fun last night already” Luke joined in then, causing Ashton to blush fiercely.

“Shut up” he mumbled weakly.

“You shouldn’t have ditched us to fuck if you didn’t want us to tease you about it” Calum shrugged nonchalantly. Ashton groaned and hid his face in his hands, Michael protectively wrapping his arms around him and pulling the blonde against him, who buried his face into his chest in return.

He felt awful about what happened between him and Michael, yet somehow felt better when the blue haired boy was the one to comfort him.

 

“Ben said he is scarred for live for having to watch you two make out so filthily for so long. Or in his own words: _he wasn’t drunk enough to see that shit_ ” Luke giggled.

“It wasn’t _filthily”_ Michael protested.

“It was passionately. There’s a difference.”

“Right…” Calum said sarcastically.

“And then you went home to make sweet, sweet love to each other, didn’t you?”

“Not really. Anne Marie kinda walked in on us.”

At that, Ashton began to blush even harder. What if she hadn’t? Would they really have had sex and would Ashton have felt even worse than he did now, knowing he had fucked his crush without being able to remember it? He probably wouldn’t have been able to live with it; with feeling like he had forced Michael to do something he later regretted. Because that’s what it already felt like now. Why else had he left the bed so early and why else would he allow the blonde be so distant towards him?

The blue haired boy didn’t show any discomfort towards Ashton right now, but that was just for the sake of their act. Ashton knew better.

Luke and Calum both erupted into loud laughter, making fun of the boys for being caught by Ashton’s mother while almost having sex in his childhood room.

“Seriously, she’s only met Michael three days ago and she already caught you two going at it. That’s actually pretty impressive” the raven haired boy chuckled, his eyes squeezed shut as he laughed.

“Shut up” Ashton mumbled once again, wanting so badly to change the subject but not knowing how. He just wanted to ignore this topic until the heavy feeling in his stomach eventually disappeared.

 

“Okay, so who’s ready to get their arse beaten at FiFa?” Michael said out of nowhere, successfully changing the subject as Luke and Calum both started to scream about how the blue haired boy would _never_ be able to beat either one of them.

Ashton had no idea what they were talking about – well, the game of course, but he didn’t really recall them talking about it ever before – but was glad they didn’t have to talk about his and Michael’s non-existent sex life anymore.

 

### ***

 

Luke and Calum were long gone when Ashton was in his room, playing his guitar while waiting for Michael to come out of the shower so he could take one as well. They both had postponed as long as possible, due to being extremely lazy that day.

The music major strummed his guitar while the lyrics came to him without even trying. He didn’t dare to sing them out loud though, afraid someone would hear and figure all of his hidden secrets out. So instead, he wrote them down in a little notebook he kept in the bottom drawer of his nightstand. It wasn’t ideal, but he really didn’t need his younger siblings to hear him sing about wanting to kiss his not-actually real boyfriend senselessly and so, _so_ much more.

The squeaking of his bedroom door is what made him look up from his guitar, hastily closing his notebook and shoving it away, out of Michael’s eyesight.

When he looked up to check if his roommate had noticed it, his eyes grew so big they almost fell out of their sockets.

 

In the middle of his room was now standing a half-naked Michael Clifford, wearing nothing but the towel he had wrapped around his lower half, drops of water still falling from his hair and running down his chest and soft tummy. Ashton swallowed as he tried to figure out whether to look at the boy’s gorgeous eyes and the little smirk around his lips or at his beautiful pale skin. He didn’t want Michael to see him _ogling him_ but he simply couldn’t look away.

Despite being roommates and not very shy around each other, the blonde hadn’t quite seen his friend like this before and, well, he really wished he had because it was quite a view.

So Ashton bit his bottom lip nervously, put away the notebook safely and laid his guitar on top of his unmade bed, going to grab some clean underwear and his sweatpants while purposely avoiding to look at Michael again.

 

As soon as the bathroom door was locked behind him, he pulled off his shirt which was too damn hot all of sudden and pushed down his skinny jeans and boxers in one motion, releasing his rapidly growing hard-on. Ashton never knew one person could make him go from completely soft to almost completely hard so fast without anyone even touching him, yet here he was. Maybe it was due to the sexual tension he had felt all damn day.

 

He turned on the water, which was still warm from Michael’s shower, and let the water soak his body completely. The boy rested his back against the cold tile wall, wrapping his right hand around his erection and throwing his head back, causing it to hit the wall a bit too hard.

His thumb teased the head of his dick for a while before he started to properly jerk himself of, trying to remember what Michael had looked like just a few seconds ago and what he had looked like the night before.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his grip on himself, flashes of the night before playing off in his head like a stuttering movie, small parts missing because of the alcohol that had been in his veins.

He could see Michael sitting up to pull off his own shirt, he could see the boy hovering above him as he grinded their hard-on’s together, chasing their orgasms. He could almost still feel his mouth on his skin, sucking hard to create the beautiful bruise and he could almost hear him pant between their kisses.

 _“You look gorgeous like that, Ash”_ he had breathed out, and Ashton had let himself believe the boy had looked at him hungrily, with fond and passion in his big, green eyes. But maybe his memories were just deceiving him, maybe the booze was just causing him to confuse his wildest dreams with actual, real life events. He couldn’t properly remember after all.

 

The blonde had to bite down on his own lip and eventually his free hand to keep the moans inside, not wanting his mother, siblings or Michael hearing him as he jerked himself of to thoughts of his friend.

His hips started to fuck his own fist as he felt himself getting closer, the only thing he could see then was Michael’s face; his kind eyes and his smile, the way he looked when he laughed out loud, his eyes squeezed shut and his nose scrunched up. Maybe this wasn’t just lust. Maybe this was way more than that.

 

Ashton flicked his wrist the way that always had him coming hard, doing his best not to make a sound as he came, the water washing away the evidence right away. He stayed leaning against the wall for a while, panting soundlessly and staring up at the ceiling.

The music major realised he kinda regretted every decision he had made ever since Michael had suggested he’d tell his mother he already had a boyfriend, regretted every word and every action that had lead him to the mess he was in right now.

He should’ve just gone alone and dealt with his mum whining about him having to take his horrible, _horrible_ ex-boyfriend back.

That way this week would’ve sucked, but at least he could have gone back to Michael and cuddle him and joke around with him like they always had.

That way, he could’ve still had a normal, containable crush on the guy, instead of actually being _head over heels_ with him.

 

Now things were awkward and weird and there was _no going_ _back_.

 

### ***

 

After Ashton had shampooed his hair and had rinsed his body with soap, he had gone to his room and crawled into bed with Michael like he hadn’t just gotten off to just the thought of him. He prayed to whatever God there was up there that the other boy couldn’t read his thoughts somehow.

 

“Did you have fun today?” Ashton asked Michael carefully as both their eyelids were getting heavy, making it hard to keep their eyes open. He was tired, but desperately wanted to talk to the art major; no matter what is was about.

Both boys were lying on their side, facing each other and keeping a respectable distance in between their bodies.

“Mhm” the youngest hummed sleepily.

“Luke and Calum are amazing. And I love your family. I love everyone here.”

“I’m glad you do.”

The blue haired boy hummed again.

 

“We should talk about what happened last night, Ash” Michael started again, knowing Ashton well enough to know he would never bring it up himself.

“Yeah, probably…” he agreed, without actually speaking up about it.

“We could go for a walk tomorrow; talk somewhere private” Ashton then quickly suggested, needing just a little more time to prepare himself for the rejection and hurt that was sure to come. Despite being terrified to talk about it all with Michael, he did want to sort it out. Because not knowing where the other was standing was worse than knowing the other thought of last night as a mistake.

“Okay” the youngest said after a short silence.

“We’ll talk tomorrow, after breakfast.”

“Goodnight Mikey.”

“Goodnight Ash.”


	13. Chapter 13

### Monday, October 17th

“Okay… So, to be honest, I don’t really know where to start” Michael said as the two of them walked through a field near Ashton’s house, looking for the best spot for their picnic and eventually sitting down once they had found it.

The art major had, besides way too much food, brought his notebook and pencils with him as well, wanting badly to draw the landscape Ashton thought wasn’t all that special.

“That’s okay” Ashton muttered. He’d rather have Michael wouldn’t start talking at all, because he still wasn’t prepared for whatever it was that was about to come; he probably never would be.

 

“Okay, so… You were clearly drunk that night, and I should’ve stopped you when things were getting out of hand but I didn’t… And, well, I am sorry about that.”

The boy sounded so sincere as he said it, so genuine and Ashton hated it. He didn’t want Michael to be sorry.

“No, it’s my fault. I should’ve never forced myself on you like that; I am so sorry for making things weird between us Mike…”

For that, he truly was sorry. He wasn’t sure if he was sorry for the kissing part in the club though.

“What? No, you didn’t force yourself on me at all! I felt like I was taking advantage of you because you didn’t know what you were doing… That’s why I was acting so weird yesterday.”

“I knew damn well what I was doing” the blonde huffed, sounding only a little offended. He wasn’t as much of a lightweight as his roommate made him out to be.

“I just… didn’t think it through, is all.”

“Right. So you wouldn’t have regretted it if your mum hadn’t walked in and we would’ve had sex then?”

Ashton blushed at that as if on cue.

“I would’ve regretted not remembering it” he admitted shyly, his voice small. It was scared to voice it out loud, but he knew they had to be honest with each other to make this work.

 

Michael stared into his eyes incredulously, cocking his head to the side a little as he tried to make sense of what the eldest had just said.

“You mean…” he started, closing his mouth and opening it back again, only to close it again, his brows furrowed.

“You mean you don’t regret it?”

“No, of course not.”

“I mean, I didn’t until you did, obviously.”

“I don’t regret it either. I just felt bad because I felt like I took advantage of you” Michael sighed, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Then why did you act so distant the next morning?” Ashton questioned, not understanding where this was going at all.

His heart was hoping for the best though, wishing Michael was actually saying what he thought he was saying, but his brain wouldn’t let himself believe it.

“It’s like I said; I felt bad about it, because I thought you didn’t really want it. I thought you’d be mad at me.”

“Oh my god” Ashton groaned, throwing his head back in frustration.

“We are such idiots.”

 

And while Michael was still trying to figure out what the eldest was talking about, Ashton dove forwards from where he was seated on a blanket on the ground, crashing into the blue haired boy as he pressed his lips against his. The boy fell back with the force of it, pulling Ashton with him as he wrapped his arms around him to stop him from pulling back.

They both breathlessly giggled into the kiss, both very relieved they could forget about the awkwardness from yesterday and move on.

 

Ashton was the first to pull back. He didn’t move away from where he was lying on top of Michael’s chest though, staring into his bright green eyes and giggling.

“Hi” he cooed, the smile on his face so big it hurt his cheeks a little.

“Hey” the boy giggled back.

And then Ashton leaned in to kiss him again, deepening the kiss this time.

 

“So, this is real?” Michael asked once they had to part again. Ashton looked down at the younger boy, at his red, plump lips which were shining a little from his salvia.

“It’s not because somebody might be watching from the bushes or whatever?” the art major checked with a smirk.

“No. It’s because I felt like kissing you.”

“And that night, it was because I wanted to kiss you too, not because the guys were around.”

Michael cocked an eyebrow at him, obviously not believing him quite yet.

“Well, it kinda was at first but then I got too into it and, damnit Mikey; you have no idea for how long I have wanted to do that!”

“Me too” Michael promised him, leaning in to kiss him over and over again.

 

Once their bellies started to grumble with how hungry the two students were, they untangled themselves from each other and ate the lunch Anne Marie and Ashton had prepared together. According to Michael, it was _heavenly._

To the blonde, it was quite funny how quickly they had gone from awkward friends who almost had sex together, to lovesick puppies, feeding each other and sharing way too many kisses and glances.

They obviously still had a lot to talk about, stuff to figure out. But for now, they were just having fun and enjoying each other’s company.

 

### ***

 

“Stop moving so much!” Michael complained for the umpteenth time when Ashton reached for his phone to skip the song that was currently playing.

“I’m sorry” the blonde giggled, quickly finishing his task and then going back to just sitting still and staring ahead.

“I thought you wanted to draw the trees or whatever…” he complained with a small smile on his face.

“Yeah. But I’ve been wanting to draw your portrait ever since I met you and this is the perfect moment.”

“Are you saying you were too shy to ask me?” Ashton smirked, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly.

“No, shut up” the blue haired boy grumbled, his cheeks turning a subtle shade of pink.

“Aww, that’s cute” the eldest chuckled, just to annoy the other boy a bit.

“I’m going to draw a huge zit on your nose if you don’t stop talking now” Michael threatened, causing Ashton to throw his head back and giggle loudly.

“I’m sorry” he managed in between his giggles, trying to sit still again so the art major could finish his drawing already.

 

“Did you know you have the prettiest eyes ever?” Michael muttered while still focusing on his work of art, not even looking up to Ashton while giving him the compliment.

“No matter what I do, I can’t make them even half as beautiful as they are in real life with only grey pencils…” he whined softly, sounding disappointed.

“I bet it looks absolutely gorgeous Mike” Ashton smiled fondly, and not just because he wanted to art major to be done already.

The blue haired boy finally looked up then, sighing and groaning at the same time out of frustration.

“I really meant what I said to Ben, you know… In the car.”

“What?” Ashton asked, blinking at the boy in confusion.

“About you being the most attractive human being I had ever seen, and being head over heels with you from day one…”

The youngest blushed as he said it, but retained eye contact nonetheless.

It was as if Ashton’s heart skipped at least five beats and two hundred butterflies were flying around in his stomach, looking for an escape. The smile that crept onto his face threatened to split his cheeks in half as he started to crawl towards his officially still fake-boyfriend, pushing him back with just one hand to his chest and kissing him again.

“I love you” he said. And he wasn’t scared.

He wasn’t afraid it’d be too early for that, or that Michael wouldn’t say it back.

He couldn’t find it in himself too worry about all that, with the other boy so close to him and eager to receive whatever Ashton was willing to give him.

“I love you too” Michael murmured, his lips still pressed to the blonde’s mouth as he said it.

“I’ve had a crush on you from day one too” the music major admitted.

“We’ve wasted so much time.”

 

### ***

 

“Aunt Liz” Ashton cheered as soon as he recognized the female voice that wasn’t his mother that was coming from the living room.

He walked into the living room, picnic basket in one hand and Michael’s hand in the other. Said boy was carrying his art stuff around, clutching it to his chest as if it was his most valuable possession. It probably was, the eldest figured.

“Hi Ash” the woman beamed, standing up and cupping her nephew’s face with both hands, kissing both his cheeks.

“It’s been so long since I saw you last! How are you?” she asked, still not letting go of the blonde’s face.

“I’m doing great, how about you?”

“My husband kicked me out of the house, claiming I’m ‘ _too stressed_ and ’ _should get some rest’_. But besides that, I am marvellous” she winked at the boy.

“Now, who might this be?” she asked, finally releasing Ashton.

“My boyfriend, Michael” the blonde answered proudly. He wasn’t sure if it they were together for real yet, but it wasn’t exactly fake either.

“Thought so” she smiled content, pulling Michael into a tight hug, ignoring his outstretched hand. The boy stumbled a little from the initial shock but then melted into the embrace.

“It’s so nice to meet you.”

“You too” the boy smiled at her once she let him go.

“Ashton really deserves someone like you after everything that happened with Ethan.”

The blonde stiffened. He felt Michael’s concerned eyes on him right away, but tried not to show all the talking about his ex-boyfriend got to him. Michael could probably see right through him though.

“I’ll take good care of him” the art major told the blonde boy’s aunt, wrapping an arm around him and kissing his temple. It sounded like he promised it directly to Ashton though.

“I don’t doubt that, love” she winked one last time before sitting down and grabbing her glass of wine from the coffee table.

 

“We’re going to my room” the blonde told his mum and aunt, even though he’s old enough not to tell his mother where he is all the time anymore.

“Okay honey.”

And with that the two boys quickly climbed the stairs.

 

“It’s so weird to hear you call me your boyfriend and not get all excited about it because I should already be used to it” the blue haired mumbled while he carefully placed his drawing stuff on top of Ashton’s old desk.

Ashton turned to look at him, cocking his eyebrow and smirking a little.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Michael walked up to the slightly shorter boy and wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling his body against his own.

He leaned in to kiss him, his lips only an inch apart from Ashton’s as he spoke up again.

“Or are we still playing pretend?” he wondered out loud, his lips brushing Ashton’s teasingly as he said it.

“No” the eldest breathed out, his eyes already closed as he chased the other boy’s mouth. Michael pulled back though, not allowing the blonde to kiss him just yet.

Ashton opened his eyes and frowned at him, looking – and feeling – rather confused.

“What?” he asked when Michael was just grinning at him sheepishly.

“So, I was right then?”

“Right about what?” Ashton wondered, chuckling at how weird his roommate was being. He just wanted his kiss, damnit. And maybe a little more.

“About us being boyfriends for real?”

_Oh._

“Yeah, you were” the eldest answered him, wrapping his hand around the back of his _boyfriend’s_ neck and kissing him hard now that he couldn’t pull back anymore.

“Finally” Michael sighed into the kiss, a smile creeping onto his face without pulling apart.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More smut woohoo  
> Also Happy New Year everybody <3

### Wednesday, October 19th

"Where is everybody?" Michael asked groggily as he walked down the stairs, rubbing at his eyes sleepily since he had just woken up. Ashton had been up for almost three hours by now, feeling wide awake.  
"Out. They're to the zoo with a friend of my mum and here kids" the blonde answered without taking his eyes off of the newspaper he was currently reading.  
"Oh" Michael replied. He walked over to his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around him from behind, kissing the skin of his neck gently.   
"Are they gone all day?" the blue haired boy wondered before he placed a few open-mouthed kisses to Ashton's jaw, the boy tilting his head sideways to give him some more space.  
"Hmm" he hummed in response, closing his eyes and letting out a shaky breath as Michael started to suck on his neck.  
"Good" the youngest chuckled in his low, hoarse morning voice, sending shivers down the other boy's spine.  
"Why? Did you have something in mind?" he asked teasingly, despite his tone sounding a lot more out of breath and desperate than he had anticipated.  
The blue haired boy didn't answer him right away. Instead, he busied himself with sucking a love bite into his neck, licking over it once he was done. Then he walked away, towards the fridge to grab some milk for his cereal, leaving a slightly confused Ashton behind. Said boy blinked at the back of his boyfriend's head, trying to figure out why he wouldn't continue.

 

So when Michael grabbed a bowl and some cereal from a cupboard and started pouring it in the bowl to eat his breakfast, Ashton walked up to him and attached himself to the slightly taller boy's back like he had done to him just seconds ago. He could hear the boy chuckle lowly, obviously satisfied.  
He turned around in Ashton's arms and leaned in to kiss him hard, his hands gripping the older boy's hips.  
"So you do know what I had in mind" he mumbled in between kisses, smirking against his lips.  
Ashton replied by licking into his boyfriend's mouth, tasting his own toothpaste on the boy's tongue.   
"Wanna go to your room?" Michael asked after letting out a soft whine, one that had Ashton chubbing up a little already. He let one hand travel down to grab one of the blonde’s bum cheeks, squeezing cheekily when he didn’t reply right away.

“Yeah” the eldest moaned softly, the art major’s mouth swallowing the sound of it. He started walking the boy backwards out of the kitchen and towards the stairs, but Ashton wouldn’t stop kissing his mouth and letting his hands wander all over his body.

“We’re gonna trip this way babe” Michael chuckled, gently pushing Ashton off of him so they could walk side by side. Said boy whined pitifully, but then took Michael’s hand in his own and rushed towards his room, pulling the taller boy with him.

“Relax; we’ve got all day” he chuckled fondly in reply.

 

The moment his bedroom door closed behind them, Ashton turned around and trapped the younger boy between the door and his own body, pinning him against it and kissing him hungrily while palming at the bulge in his jeans.

“Ash” Michael moaned, throwing his head back in pleasure and Ashton took that as an invitation to start sucking and biting at the skin of his neck.

He spent a little more time on creating a purple bruise just below the neck of his shirt so it would be easy to cover up when his family would get home, his hand still applying much needed friction to Michael’s cock.

The boy was starting to pant, soft little moans filling the quiet bedroom and Ashton loved to know it was all because of him.

“Please Ash” the younger started to whine, bucking up his hips a little, needing more.

That’s when the blonde pulled back, admiring the purple bruise he had made and then looking into Michael’s hooded eyes.

“What do you want babe?” he asked in a low voice, pressing against Michael’s bulge a little harder, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut for a moment.

“More” he said, leaning in to kiss Ashton, which wasn’t really effective since it only distracted the music major.

He did manage to undo Michael’s belt and unzip his jeans though, not even bothering to push them down all the way. He pushed his boxers down too and looked down as his hard cock sprung free, wrapping his hand around it immediately.

“Fuck” the blue haired boy groaned as Ashton moved his hand from the base to the tip, his thumb brushing over the head of his dick like he always loved to do to himself.

“Yeah, like that?” the blonde grinned, loving the view of Michael coming undone so quickly.

The blue haired boy only managed to moan in reply, bucking up his hips helplessly, wanting Ashton to go faster.

 

The eldest placed on hand against Michael’s hips, pinning him against the door and preventing him from jerking forward again. He did move his hand faster though, causing the art major to squirm and moan, biting down on his own bottom lip while his eyes were squeezed shut.

“Let’s get on the bed” Ashton murmured without stopping the movements of his hands, his thumb reaching out to rub over the head of Michael’s dick over and over again, slowly driving him insane.

“Okay” Michael breathlessly answered. So Ashton pulled off of the boy and helped him out of his jeans and boxers completely. Once he had succeeded, the music major pulled the other boy towards the bed by his hand, pushing him down so he was lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling, his cock curling up against his stomach.

But instead of crawling up to kiss Michael again, Ashton crawled in between his legs, leaning down to press kisses to his tummy, down towards his hips and eventually the inside of his thighs.

“Ash” came the art major’s soft, pleading moans again, wanting nothing more but his boyfriend’s lips wrapped around his cock.

Ashton kinda wanted to tease the boy beneath him some more, but he couldn’t really wait to get his mouth on him either, so he decided against it.

He pressed one last kiss to Michael’s hipbone and then took the tip in his mouth, licking at his slit and then slowly lowering his head. It had been a while since he had last done this, and though you could probably never unlearn how to suck a dick, he still figured he’d better take it slow.

 

The eldest started bobbing his head then, his tongue applying pressure against Michael’s shaft, only stopping to suck on the head every now and then. His hand wrapped around whatever his mouth couldn’t reach, hand moving in sync with his mouth.

The blue haired boy reached down to grab a handful of Ashton’s blonde curls, holding tight as he pressed his head back into the pillow, his back arching off of the mattress.

“Fuck, Ash” he groaned, trying to keep his hips still, not wanting to hurt his boyfriend’s throat by jerking upwards too much.

The eldest hummed in reply, sending delicious vibrations which caused Michael to gasp and moan loudly.

“Shit, feels so good” he breathlessly muttered, probably not even knowing what exactly it was he was saying. Ashton loved the praises though. It made him want to try even harder, wanting to make his boyfriend feel as good as possible. He hollowed his cheeks around the boy’s cock again, his tongue swirling around the head and applying pressure to the most sensitive part. That’s when the boy started to leak pre-cum into his mouth, telling Ashton he was getting close already. 

His free hand moved up to gently fondle Michael’s balls, earning yet another sinful moan from him. When Ashton sucked a little harder, despite his jaw starting to ache, Michael bucked up his hips helplessly, fucking into Ashton’s throat. He fought the urge to gag and just continued sucking the boy beneath him off, going faster and faster as the youngest non-stop moans were getting higher and higher.

“F-fuck” he groaned, pulling on Ashton’s hair with the fist that had grabbed it.

“Stop” he managed to get out, pulling a little harder when the blonde ignored him and continued.

 

The eldest pulled off with a dirty, wet sound then, looking up at his boyfriend with confused, yet expectant eyes. Because even though he really wanted Michael to just finish into his mouth, he also wanted to find out what else the blue haired boy had in store for them. So he crawled up towards him, lowering his head to kiss the panting boy. When he did, he panicked though, already starting to pull back because Michael probably didn’t want him to kiss him after having his dick in his mouth.

Michael didn’t seem to care at all though, nor did he notice Ashton’s behaviour. He simply wrapped his hand around his neck to keep him close and eagerly licked into his mouth to taste himself on Ashton’s tongue.

“You’re really good at that” he said in a low voice in between kisses, hands reaching out to pull Ashton’s shirt off.

“Yeah?” the blonde asked cheekily, lifting up his arms so Michael could get rid of his shirt, not caring where he’d toss it to the floor. Then he pulled the younger boy’s shirt off.

“Yeah” the art major nodded right before kissing him again, his fingers working on Ashton’s belt and zipper, only occasionally brushing against his almost painful hard on, the soft touches not enough at all. He pushed his jeans and boxers down in one go, Ashton’s erection finally being freed. It slapped up against his stomach once, the head a bright shade of red and already leaking.

“Fuck” Michael breathed out in awe as he stared at it with hungry, wide eyes before reaching out and wrapping his small hand around it. He stroked him once, twice, his thumb spreading the pre-come a little. Ashton groaned in response and buried his head in the crook of the younger boy’s neck, biting down.

He jerked his hips down, fucking Michael’s fist while sucking on his neck, forgetting all about his plan not to leave any marks where his family could see.

 

“Feels good?” Michael asked when Ashton sped up the thrusts, his mouth gone slack against Michael’s skin as he moaned against it.

“Y-yeah” the blonde groaned.

“Shit.”

He was a little embarrassed at how quickly the intense feeling in the pit of his stomach was building up, threatening to explode. They probably both knew Ashton wasn’t going to last long at all, not with the way Michael’s thumb pressed down against his slit or with his free hand squeezing Ashton’s arse cheek, his fingers slowly inching towards his pink hole.

 

Then, out of nowhere Michael flipped them over, the art major now being the one on top, Ashton staring up at him with wide, dark eyes.

“You look so fucking hot like this” the youngest groaned, tightening his grip on Ashton’s cock as he started to jerk him off himself now, faster than Ashton had been able to fuck his fist.

“So fucking gone for me, so desperate for it” he continued, leaning down to wrap his lips around one of his nipples, sucking hard.

“Oh my god” the blonde moaned, Michael’s words and the tone of his voice going straight to his dick. He buried his head deeper into the pillow as he arched his back up, needing _more._

“Mikey” he whined, hand reaching out to stroke his hair, needing to touch as much of him as possible.

 

The younger of the two stopped then, bringing his hands up to cup Ashton’s face and kissing him filthily.

“Don’t want you to come like this” he mumbled while the blonde tried to catch his breath, finding it extremely hot and extremely frustrating that his boyfriend hadn’t let him come already at the same time. So he just whined, unable to come up with more than his lover’s name.

“Want you to come with my cock inside of you” Michael just continued, planting open mouth kisses all over Ashton’s jaw and neck, alternating between sucking, licking and biting down.

“Mikey” the blonde moaned, his hands clawing at the younger boy’s bare back.

“Would you like that baby?”

“Yeah – shit – yeah, please babe.”

He was well aware of how damn desperate he sounded, but he just couldn’t help himself. He just needed the other boy to be as close to him as possible, needed everything he was willing to give him.

 

“Okay” Michael gave in, grabbing Ashton’s wrists and pinning them down above his head while kissing him and grinding their hard cocks together, keeping them there no matter how much he squirmed.

The blonde started to panic then, not liking this new position at all. He tried whatever he could to free himself, struggling to catch his breath as he freaked out even though he knew he had no reason too.  

“Michael” he gasped as the boy just continued kissing him and grinding down without letting him go. It would’ve felt good – really fucking good, probably - if it hadn’t brought back all those awful memories Ashton had tried to push away for so long.

The blue haired boy, obviously thinking Ashton was still pleading with him to get fucked, just smirked against his lips, only adding up to his sudden discomfort.

“Michael please let go” he whispered, tears already welling up in his eyes as his wrists were starting to hurt from Michael’s tight grip.

“Please” Ashton sobbed now, the first tear spilling from his eyes, still pulling to get freed, his dick rapidly going soft. And that’s when Michael finally noticed something was wrong.

 

He let go of the music major instantly, sitting up a little and staring down at the sobbing boy with big, confused eyes.

“Ashton?” he asked, his voice soft and cautious.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he wanted to know, his hand cupping the boy’s face carefully, his thumb wiping away the tears that were now running down his face.

Ashton just cried, curling in on himself. The sight broke Michael’s heart and he lay down so he was next to the older boy, wrapping his arms around him and kissing his forehead over and over again.

“Please, Ash; it’s alright. It’s okay, we can stop” he offered, though he had no idea what he had done wrong. Not even half a minute ago, his boyfriend had been begging  for him to fuck him.

 

“S-sorry” the eldest sobbed, his entire body shaking in Michael’s arms, his face pressed against his chest. At least he allowed the blue haired boy to touch and comfort him, Michael thought.

“Shh, no need to apologize baby” he whispered as he gently ran a hand through his blonde curls.

“It’s okay; I’ve got you.”

Ashton took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down now that he was safe in Michael’s embrace. He had never meant to freak out like this in front of the other boy, but he just couldn’t help himself.

 

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Michael tried carefully after a little while of silence.

Ashton shook his head quickly, sobbing quietly as Michael kept stroking his back in a comforting manner and kissing his temple.

“Not yet” he mumbled, voice a little wobbly.

“Okay” Michael kissed the top of his head.

“Whenever you’re ready, okay?”

Ashton nodded.

“Cuddle?” he asked, despite them already cuddling as it was.

Ashton nodded once again and neither of the boys made a move to pull some clothes on. The blonde was alright with that though; as long as Michael would hold him the way he was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr.   
> Abbypd.tumblr.com


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff, fluff and some more fluff.  
> I personally love this chapter..
> 
> Anyways, Mikey paints Ash back later in the story, and here's a link to what I had in mind, in case you were curious what it would look like...  
> birdsons.tumblr.com/post/130021798930

### Wednesday, October 19th

There was light shining in through the window when Ashton blinked his eyes open. His head hurt and his throat felt dry after all the crying he had done before he had fallen asleep. But aside from that, he felt a lot better already. Michael had whispered sweet nothings into his ear, had rubbed his back and wiped away the tears that wouldn’t stop to fall until Ashton had drifted into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

He found his head was tucked underneath his boyfriend’s chin with Michael’s arms wrapped around him loosely, since the younger boy was still asleep, and sighed contently.

The eldest pressed a soft kiss to Michael’s chest and closed his eyes again as he listened to the sound of the beating of his boyfriend’s heart and his slow breathing.

 

The blonde smiled at nothing in particular when Michael snored quietly, unintentionally reminding Ashton he was there in case he might need him. The music major thought of how thankful he was for the younger boy, how happy he was to have someone like him.

Ashton had trusted Michael was nothing like his previous boyfriend already, but the way he had handled the situation earlier that day had proven it completely. The thought alone had his heart skipping a beat.

 

The eldest felt safe in the company of the other boy, despite his memories still haunting him in certain situations.

Michael kept proving he only wanted what was best for Ashton; he loved him and treated him the way any proper boyfriend would and it was only one of the many reasons Ashton loved him to the moon and back. 

 

Of course he was still anxious to find out how Michael would treat him after this; whether he would act like the music major was something fragile, something to handle with care, or whether he would force him to tell what had happened.

And the blonde was just not ready for that.

Pushing all bad memories aside and pretending they had never existed at all had worked out pretty well so far, and Ashton was planning on continuing to cope this way for as long as possible.

If he’d tell someone what happened, it would probably become way more real and the music major just wasn’t ready for that.

 

He was content with how he was handling this entire situation as it was.

 

He did know that with every day Michael and him grew closer to each other, got to know each other better, the chance that his boyfriend would find out about his past only grew though. He was convinced Michael finding out wouldn’t be a good thing at all, would ruin everything they had, so Ashton decided not to think about that either. Because if he did, he’d probably cry again and he really didn’t need his boyfriend to wake up to the sounds of his sobs after what had happened only an hour or two prior.

The boy distracted himself by placing kiss after kiss to Michael’s sternum, slowly moving up to press his lips against his collarbone. The boy stirred beneath his gentle touches, his breathing coming out a little quicker and irregular, telling Ashton he was starting to wake up.

He just continued kissing his neck, his lips alternating between pressing down or just ghosting along Michael’s warm skin, watching goose bumps rise one by one.

 

“Hi” the younger boy breathed out then, his voice hoarse like it always was after sleeping for longer than half an hour. Ashton answered him by pressing a kiss to his jaw.

“How are you feeling?” the blue haired boy asked, making it clear he hadn’t forgotten at all.

“Better, thanks to you” the eldest answered him genuinely.

“Good” Michael mumbled, letting Ashton nip at his skin without protest.

 

“What are we going to do today?” he asked after a short moment of silence, subtly changing the subject; the blonde couldn’t have been more thankful for that.

“Luke and Calum invited us to jam tonight. So, except for that; nothing” Ashton answered him lazily. He was looking forward to spend some time with his favourite cousin and their respective boyfriends. Despite that, neither of the boys made an attempt to leave the bed they were cuddled up in together, Michael’s bare legs intertwined with Ashton’s.

He closed his eyes with a small smile on his lips as he felt the other boy’s fingers running along his arm and his side, starting to draw patterns into his skin.

 

“Can I paint your back sometime?” he asked out of nowhere, and Ashton blinked up at him.

“Hmm?” he hummed, not really understanding what his boyfriend was saying. He blamed it on being awake for only a few minutes.

“You should let me paint your back; I always wanted to use a human canvas.”

Michael chuckled a little at the confession, but still looked at Ashton expectantly.

“Oh” he said, closing his eyes again.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Awesome!” Michael beamed, already untangling himself from the blonde and crawling out of the bed. It was as if his energy had just quadrupled in only a matter of seconds.

“What, now?” Ashton wondered out loud. He had kinda hoped to get some more sleep and cuddles from his boy.

“Yeah… I mean; if you don’t mind” the art major grinned sheepishly.

“Nah, but only if I can stay in bed.”

“Sure babe.”

“Just lie on your stomach for me, please” he said, searching for his suitcase full of art supplies. In the meantime, Ashton rolled over so he was lying on his stomach, his arms folded beneath his head as he watched Michael rummage around the room.

“Do you think your mother will kill me if I’d spill paint on your sheets?” he questioned worriedly as he collected his paint and brushes, bending over to give his boyfriend a nice view on his pale, bare arse.

“I’ll make sure they’re clean before she gets home” the eldest assured him. He closed his eyes as Michael made his way back to the bed, crawling towards him on his knees before placing the stuff down next to Ashton’s naked body.

He swung his legs over him so he was straddling him, sitting down just a little below his bum.

“Is this okay?” he asked gently once he was seated comfortably, obviously not wanting to overstep any boundaries. Ashton fought the urge to roll his eyes, because he knew Michael only wanted him to feel happy, comfortable and safe. But this right here was the reason he had never told the boy about his past; he didn’t need to be handled like a fragile piece of glass, only seconds away from hitting the floor and shattering into a million pieces.

“Yeah” he hummed instead, settling beneath Michael’s weight and getting comfortable.

 

The blonde closed his eyes, waiting patiently for the feeling of a brush dipped in cold paint on his back.

Instead, he felt Michael’s fingers and eventually his hands on his back, massaging his muscles and humming a melody under his breath.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding only a little confused.

“Thinking of something to draw” the younger boy answered.

“What do you want?” he asked the blonde, but said boy only shrugged; for as far as that was possible with the position he was in, that is.

“Surprise me” he mumbled, closing his eyes again and enjoying the feeling of Michael’s hands on his back and shoulders.

Said boy hummed and suddenly pulled his hands back; Ashton could hear him pouring paint on a pallet and picking a brush.

He started adding paint to the right side of his back, just below his shoulder blade, obviously having made up his mind on what to create.

While the art major started working on his back, Ashton reached for his phone and turned on his Spotify, softly humming along as he tried to figure out what his boyfriend was making by the shapes he was painting. He had no clue though.

 

If he was being honest, Ashton figured that this was what being in a relationship was all about. Just lying in bed, doing your own thing while still spending time _together_. Being content with letting the other do whatever it is they do while waiting patiently, loving whatever it is that makes the other happy and participating in that. Not having to talk and still feeling like the two of you connect on some sort of higher level.

Ashton loved everything about it, so he decided to tell Michael.

 

“I love you.”

The boy chuckled softly, his brushes still moving over Ashton’s back.

“Well, that was a bit random” he mumbled, obviously concentrating on his work.

“You’re supposed to tell me you love me back, you know” the eldest giggled, accidentally stirring his body. Michael effectively stilled him with the soft touch of his hand against Ashton’s shoulder.

“You know I love you too” Michael said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to the mess of blonde curls on top of his boyfriend’s head.

“It was just a little random, is all.”

“I was just thinking…” Ashton murmured.

Michael hummed, sounding as if he understood what the older boy was saying, as if he knew exactly what the older boy was talking about. Maybe he did.

So he leaned forward once again to kiss Ashton’s shoulder blade and then went back to painting his bare back.

 

### ***

 

“Babe” Michael’s voice suddenly reached Ashton’s ears; the boy barely registered it though.

“Sweetheart; wake up” he tried again, his voice still soft, yet loud enough to be heard above the music.

“Hmm” the blonde hummed, not wanting to open his eyes just yet. He had no idea how long he had been asleep for, but he knew for sure it was nowhere near long enough.

“Come on, I want you to see your back” the blue haired boy whined, his hands carefully shaking his boyfriend awake.

Ashton sat up then, throwing Michael off of him in the progress. He had almost forgotten why he had been seated on top of his bum in the first place, but now that he remembered, he couldn’t wait to see the end result.

So he walked over to the mirror in his bathroom and turned his back to it, looking over his shoulder to try and see it. It was a little hard to see this way, but he could tell there were four red roses on his back, the lowest just below his right shoulder blade and the highest reaching the left side of his neck. It looked gorgeous.

 

“Do you want me to take a picture?” the art major offered as he watched the eldest struggle to see his entire back.

“Yes, please” Ashton smiled sheepishly, feeling a little dumb for not coming up with that idea himself.

He stood still as Michael snapped a picture with his phone and then studied the picture of his back.

“It’s absolutely beautiful Mikey” he gasped, gawking at the red roses. He’d almost consider getting them tattooed on his back so they’d never wash away. _Almost._

“Why roses though?” he wondered out loud, still not taking his eyes off of the picture.

“Because they belong to Aphrodite, the Greek god of love. They symbolize an immortal love; a union that will never fade…” Michael shrugged, making it sound like poetry.

 

“But most of all, I just really love red roses because of Alice in Wonderland.”

Ashton cocked an eyebrow at the art major at that, showing he really didn’t get why he’d paint that on him.

“When I was little…” Michael started to explain “my mother and I watched Alice in Wonderland together. And the song I loved the most was _painting the roses red_. I’d walk around the house singing it all the time and for one week straight, I didn’t draw anything but red roses.”

Ashton smiled at the little story.

“So one day I was a sad because one of my drawings hadn’t turned out the way I wanted it to. So my mum sat down next to me and said: ‘ _Michael, do you remember the white roses in the queen’s garden?’_ and I nodded. And so she said: “ _well, the queen wasn’t happy they were white so what did she do?”_  And I said: “ _she painted them red.”_ And my mum smiled and she said: “ _that’s what you should do too. If you don’t like the way something turns out, than you just change it. You don’t give up, and you don’t destroy it; you just paint it red.””_

Michael chuckled softly at the memory.

“So I worked on that drawing until I thought it was good enough. And that is how I learned to draw and to never give up. That’s why I turn all the smudges on the tablecloth into something else… I paint the roses red.”

Ashton smiled at the blue haired boy and kissed him on his cheek.

“That’s really cute” he giggled.

The younger boy smiled back at him first, but then his face turned serious. The blonde cocked his head to the side, asking him without any words what was up.

 

“Do you know why I decided to paint them on your back?” he asked, sounding a little nervous all of sudden. Ashton shook his head.

“Because I noticed a few scars on your shoulder blade…” Michael bit his lower lip, obviously contemplating whether he should’ve brought it up, and whether to continue or not. The music major just waited, feeling the tension build up inside of him.

“And with what happened last night, I guess there’ve been things in your life that weren’t all that pretty…”

Ashton casted his eyes down to the floor, not knowing how to respond to that at all. Not pretty was a huge understatement, but Ashton wasn’t ready to tell his boyfriend that yet. He had no idea how the younger boy would react after finding out how he had gotten those ugly scars, and he was terrified to find out.

The blue haired boy lifted his head with a single finger to his chin though, smiling kindly at him, lovingly even, and suddenly Ashton wasn’t that afraid anymore.

“I want to paint your roses red, Ash… I want to turn the ugly things from your past into gorgeous things, make everything in your life beautiful and wonderful. I want you to be happy all the time and to see the brighter side of everything.”

The eldest smiled at the slightly taller boy in front of him, his eyes glazing over already.

“I turned your scars into roses and I’ll promise to always try to turn your tears into smiles.”

“Thank you” the blonde choked out, letting himself fall forward into the younger boy’s arms. He kissed him hard on the mouth, wishing he could make the boy feel all the love he was feeling for him right now through just the touch of their lips.  

Michael wrapped his arms around his upper body, kissing him back while running his hands down his back, ruining the paint. Ashton couldn’t care that much though; they still had the picture. All he cared about right now was the wonderful boy in his arms that was by far the most beautiful person on the entire planet.

“I love you.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know this is a very short and simple chapter, but it's cute nonetheless and idk; I just really wanted to share this with you guys.

### Wednesday, October 19th

“So, I’ve been working on this song for _weeks_ , and I know exactly how I want it! Ash, I’ve borrowed a piano from a friend you can play and Michael, could you maybe give the cajon a try? It’s not as hard as it looks, I swear. Calum and I will be playing the guitar and Cal and I were going to sing all of it at first but you guys have amazing voices so we should all sing a part and maybe put in some harmonies” Luke rambled on as soon as he opened his front door, already leading the way to his bedroom. None of the other Hemmings’ were home, so they didn’t have to be afraid of anyone hearing about their surprise. 

“Well, hello to you too Luke. I’m good, thank you for asking...” the eldest muttered sarcastically, smiling fondly at his younger cousin’s enthusiasm.

“Oh, uhm- sorry, I just…” the tall blonde stuttered, blushing a little.

“Hi.”

“You’re nervous as hell, aren’t you?” the eldest asked then, his voice soft. He couldn’t help but feel for the younger boy; he had been the same, if not worse, before his first, real performance.

“Yeah” his cousin admitted as they walked into his bedroom, where Calum was already strumming his guitar. He looked quite frustrated as he kept stumbling over the chords but Ashton decided not to say anything about it. Instead he sat down on the stool behind the piano and played a few chords, just to get used to the feel of it. He grinned at the blue haired boy as he sat down on top of the cajon, looking a little uncertain of himself. The music major winked at him, causing him to smile back sheepishly.

“I just want it to be perfect…” Luke shrugged, sitting down next to his boyfriend and pulling his guitar into his lap.

 

“Anyways, here’s the song I picked out. Celeste once mentioned she absolutely adored it, since it was her parents’ wedding song, and I joked I’d sing it at their wedding… But that was ages ago, so I doubt she’ll remember it, let alone expect it.

She said she’d love it back then though, so I’m pretty sure she still will.”

“Babe, I already told you: they’re both gonna cry before you even sang the first word…” Calum reassured him, nudging Luke’s side.

“Yeah, I know…” Luke mumbled, still sounding a little unsure.

 

“Can I see it?” Ashton asked, reaching out for the sheets with the lyrics and chords the youngest had printed.

“Yeah, sure.”

Luke handed it to him and the other two, keeping one for himself.

‘ _Amazed by Bryan Adams’_ the title said. Ashton already knew it. It was a rather old song, but still beautiful.

He turned the volume of the electric piano down and softly tried out the beginning. All eyes were on him, but he couldn’t really be bothered by that. He was used to it by now.

“Shall we listen to the original version once or twice and then figure out how to do this?” he suggested once he was familiar with the chords.

Ashton had played piano for several years now, but it was the fourth instrument he played so it didn’t come as easy to him as guitar did.

Everybody nodded in agreement and Luke took his phone from his pocket, playing the song.

 

They listened to it twice, Ashton writing down whenever he had to do a little trick on his instrument and then gave it a go.

Luke strummed his guitar once and then the music major played the intro.

When the two guitars joined in again, Calum began to sing the first few lines.

 

_Every time our eyes meet,_

_This feeling inside me,_

_Is almost more than I can take._

 

And Ashton had heard him sing before, but never like this.

He was quite impressed, to say the least.

The black haired boy’s voice was a little hoarse and fragile, but fitted the song perfectly. He did have trouble playing the guitar and singing at the same time though and messed up almost three times before Luke took over and sang the next couple of lines.

 

_And baby when you touch me,_

_I can feel how much you love me,_

_Yeah, it just blows me away._

His voice was louder, steadier and you could tell the youngest was more certain of himself than his boyfriend was. It was a perfect way to build the song up, and Ashton beamed proudly at his cousin.

 

_I’ve never been this close to anyone, or anything._

_I can hear your thoughts,_

_I can see your dreams._

 

Luke continued, the volume of his voice growing with almost every word he sang, the music building up with him. Michael was banging the cajon beneath his bum rhythmically and he was so much better at it than Ashton had expected.

The music major thought they were doing really well for a first try.

 

_I don’t know why you do what you do,_

_I’m so in love with you,_

_It just keeps getting better._

_I wanna spend the rest of my life,_

_With you by my side;_

_Forever and ever._

_Every little thing that you do;_

_baby I’m amazed by you._

Calum had joined in during the chorus, harmonizing with Luke perfectly. He did mess up his guitar part again though, looking even more frustrated. Luke smiled at him to show him it was no big deal though, but it didn’t seem to calm the kiwi boy down.

So instead of going on, the raven haired boy stopped playing his instrument and sighed.

“I can’t do this” he said the moment the music died down.

“The chord progression is too hard; I can’t sing and play at the same time…”

The boy didn’t look anyone in the eyes as he said it.

“Maybe Ashton should play it instead.”

“We really need a piano though…” the youngest said, pouting a little. He didn’t want Calum to feel bad about not being able to play it, but he didn’t want to give up the piano part either.

“We can practise together; you’ll figure it out.”

“The wedding is in two days though. Even if I didn’t sing, I still wouldn’t be able to play the bridge. I have never managed to play it flawlessly and we’ve been working on it for two months or so…”

 

Ashton looked at the chords in front of him, trying to come up with a way to solve this.

“Maybe we could change some chords, make it a bit easier. I don’t think anyone would hear the difference anyways…” he came up with, though he knew fully well the song wouldn’t sound as good as if they did it Luke’s way. He just didn’t want Calum to feel even worse than he did already.

“I don’t know…” the blonde muttered, sounding a little disappointed.

“Maybe I could give it a try” Michael said out of nowhere. He had been silent the entire time and Ashton had figured it was because he didn’t know enough about music to get involved.

Three pair of eyes stared at him then, the eldest gawking a little.

“You play the guitar?” he asked incredulously, sounding and feeling rather offended that his roommate, friend and now boyfriend had never cared to tell him that.

Michael shrugged.

“I didn’t want to tell you because you’re obviously way better than I am…” he chuckled, blushing a little.

“But I think I’ll be able to play this.”

“You’re an idiot” Ashton said, shaking his head fondly.

“I’m still mad at you though, and you’re going to play so much guitar for me these couple of days, just to make up for the lack of it during the last few months.”

“Okay” the art major giggled.

“But don’t make fun of me when I fuck up or whatever; I warned you.”

 

“Okay, I am sorry to ruin your little moment, but we should really get to work now. Cal, do you think you’ll be able to play the cajon and sing at the same time?” Luke questioned as he turned at his boyfriend.

The raven haired boy nodded, glad they could still continue the younger boy’s plan.

So he got up, handed his guitar to Michael and they swapped places.

 

They started the song again, the art major making no mistakes at all, despite playing this particular song for the very first time. Ashton did fuck up a few times though; probably because he kept staring at the blue haired boy across the room. He looked incredibly hot with a guitar in his lip, his teeth biting down on his lower lip a little in concentration.

Calum was pretty great at playing the cajon too, and it didn’t affect his singing at all.

All in all, it was pretty perfect.

 

Luke mentioned for Ashton to sing the next few lines of the second verse. He stared at Michael playing the guitar the entire way through.

 

_The smell of your skin,_

_The taste of your kiss._

_The way you whisper in the dark._

Seemingly out of nowhere, the blue haired boy joined in during the rest of the verse, harmonizing with Ashton. The two stared into each other’s eyes while singing to each other and though it was kinda cliché, Ashton loved every second of it.

 

_Your hair all around me,_

_And baby you surround me,_

_Touch every place of my heart._

_Oh, it feels like the first time, every time._

_I want to spend the whole night, in your arms._

 

The music major was a little sad when the other two joined in, Calum doubling the melody Ashton was singing and Luke singing another harmony. It sounded beautiful, but now it wasn’t just Ashton and Michael singing anymore.

 

_I don’t know why you do what you do,_

_I’m so in love with you,_

_It just keeps getting better._

_I wanna spend the rest of my life,_

_With you by my side;_

_Forever and ever._

_Every little thing that you do;_

_baby I’m amazed by you._

 

The four boys were silent when the song came to an end, just looking at each other with dopey smiles on their faces. Ashton had no doubt Jack and Celeste and all of their guests would totally love their cover.

 

“Should we repeat the chorus at the end?” Luke questioned, looking at his older cousin since he was the expert after all.

“Yeah, I think we should repeat it but a bit softer; like an outro. I feel like the end was to abrupt now.”

The blonde nodded in agreement.

“Okay. I suggest we play the chorus, than an instrumental bridge and then the chorus again…”

All other three nodded.

“Let’s go over it a few more times, yeah?”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaay, more smut! Hope you guys like this one better than the last :)

### Wednesday, October 19th

“I’m so mad you never cared to tell me you played the guitar before” Ashton said as they reached his bedroom, his mother and siblings not back from visiting his uncles David and Peter yet.

Michael chuckled softly, knowing he wasn’t actually mad.

“I’m sorry Ash, I didn’t-“

The blonde cut him off by pushing him up against his bedroom door.

“You look hot as fuck with a guitar in your lap and I’ve missed out on that sight for _weeks!”_

He kissed him then, probably a little too hard but neither of the boys cared.

“And you’re like, really good. There are kids in my class who are nowhere near as good as you are. Hell, you’re probably even better than I am” the blonde mumbled in between the kisses, sounding a little frustrated while in fact he was just really turned on. He really didn’t feel the need to compete with his boyfriend.

He rolled his hips into Michael’s, the smirk on his face being replaced by a look of pure pleasure.

“No, I’m not” he argued, breathing coming out a little ragged already.

“Well, you’re good either way and it’s really hot” Ashton would’ve shrugged if he hadn’t been too busy grinding up against his boyfriend.

He tugged on his clothes in the meantime, pushing his hands beneath his shirt to feel his warm stomach beneath his fingertips, Michael jerking a little at how cold his hands were.

 

He pulled off Michael’s shirt then, rolling his hips forward again and feeling the art major was just as hard in his pants as he was himself. The other boy’s fingers wrapped around the hem of his shirt as he breathed out a soft moan and then lifted up his arms so Michael could pull it off. The taller boy started to walk him back to the bed and laid him down, hovering over him and kissing him hard.

Suddenly, he pulled back, looking at the blonde with worried eyes.

“Is this okay?” he asked, voice soft, careful. He obviously hadn’t forgotten about this morning’s events, when they had been in the exact same position.

Said blonde thought the urge to show his annoyance and tell Michael to just get on with it already, since he knew the boy only meant well.

“Yeah, yeah, just…” he kissed the boy once.

“Just don’t hold me down or whatever.”

He wanted to go back to business, hands moving to Michael belt, but the boy stopped him.

“If you’re uncomfortable, you’ll tell me. Right?”

Ashton nodded, reaching up to kiss the boy on his lips to show he was grateful for all this, but didn’t want him to think about it too much. He just wanted to get off with his boyfriend, since they still hadn’t had the chance to do that.

The first time, his mum had walked in, and the second, Ashton had freaked out. They hadn’t really had any other opportunities yet with Ashton’s family being around all the time.

“No, promise me” Michael said sternly, pulling back just so he was out of the older boy’s reach, his eyes searching his boyfriend’s hazel ones.

Ashton whined softly, but figured he had no other choice.

“I promise I’ll tell you when I get uncomfortable.”

“Now can we please get on with it already?” he chuckled a little to break the slight tension a bit. It worked, for Michael smirked at him and then lowered himself to suck a hickey into the skin of his neck, rolling his hips down in the meantime.

The bruises from that morning were still visible and Ashton was a little worried about people seeing it but couldn’t bring himself to stop his boyfriend’s actions. He’d worry about it later.

 

The music major struggled to pull Michael’s pants off with how amazing it all felt, but managed to get the boy above him naked either way.

Once the art major was satisfied with the new love-bite in his boyfriend’s neck, his hands reached for Ashton’s jeans as well, tugging them down as soon as it was unbuttoned.

He lined their cocks up together and the eldest wrapped his large hand around both of them, jerking them off at the same time. He stared at the two hard-on’s in his fist, loving the sight of the two of them pressed together, so hard and red and both leaking a little already.

The soft moans from Michael above him was what had him looking up at the boy’s face instead, watching how he furrowed his brows, squeezed his eyes shut and bit his bottom lip in pleasure. He thought the boy looked absolutely beautiful like this.

“Feels good?” Ashton questioned, his voice low.

“Yeah, fuck, feels so good Ash” he breathed out. That’s when the blonde decided to press his thumb down against Michael’s head and then his own, erupting a high pitched moan from both of them.

 

The blue haired boy jerked his hips a little then, fucking into Ashton’s fist and rubbing their cocks together, sending a wave of pleasure through both of them.

“Fuck Mikey” the eldest moaned, tightening his grip on their hard-on’s and moving his hand a bit faster.

He felt the pleasure building quickly after that, the two of them moaning and whining instead of just breathing and the sound of the room being filled with the sound of Ashton’s hand which was now slick with pre-come.

“Ah – I’m so close Ash” the blue haired boy panted, fucking into the boy’s hand over and over again, chasing his orgasm.

That’s when the blonde pulled his hand back, letting go of their dicks. Michael stared at him, seemingly confused.

“Don’t wanna come like this” he mumbled as he pushed against his boyfriend’s chest, forcing him to lie down on his back next to Ashton. He climbed on top of him quickly, yet carefully, his thighs on either side of the boy beneath him and his arse only inches away from his cock.

“Wanna ride you” he whispered, leaning down to kiss Michael’s sternum.

“Oh my god, Ashton” said boy gasped at the words, hands moving up to grip his waist, holding him tight.

“Please” he added breathlessly.

 

“Hold on” the blonde said, kissing Michael’s lips softly and then getting up to get his lube and a condom from his nightstand. He tossed the condom on the bed, next to where his boyfriend was lying and climbed back on top of him, bottle of lube in his hands. He felt Michael’s hungry eyes on him as he opened the little bottom and went to coat his own fingers with it. Then he paused and looked up at the art major.

“Do you wanna do it?”

The younger boy bit his bottom lip, as if contemplating his answer and then shook his head.

“No, wanna watch” he muttered, his eyes flicking from Ashton’s face to his fingers.

Said boy nodded and poured to lube onto his fingers, rubbing it warm for a bit before sitting up on his knees and bringing his first slick finger to his hole, Michael watching his every movement with blown pupils.

He circled his entrance for a bit, getting it lubed up and then slowly inched his first finger in. It had been quite a while since he had done this, so he couldn’t go as fast as he once could. Michael didn’t seem to mind though, seemed to be up for the show. His hands roamed Ashton’s chest, sides, stomach and thighs while he pushed his finger in deeper, curling it a little once it was inside of him properly.

He let out a tiny moan at the feeling of it and then pulled it out, only to push it back in again, crooking his finger every time his finger was in knuckle deep.

 

He didn’t wait too long to push in a second finger along with his first, sensing Michael was growing extremely impatient beneath him with the way he started to rut his hips up, rubbing his dick against Ashton’s arse in the process.

“You look so good babe” he said, voice low as the blonde moved his fingers a little quicker inside of him, curling and scissoring them to open himself up as quickly as possible.

“Fuck” he groaned as his fingertips brushed against the sensitive spot inside of him, swallowing hard.

Michael reached out to gently grab his wrist, stilling him with just his touch.

“Can I?” he asked, his eyes not even looking up to look into Ashton’s as he said it, just staring at where the boy’s fingers were disappearing inside of himself.

“Yeah” the blonde nodded eagerly, pulling out and biting his lips as Michael covered three fingers in lube. He held his breath as his boyfriend massaged his hole for not even three seconds and then pushing two of his fingers in. He braced his hands on the younger boy’s shoulder and chest, keeping himself up as Michael brushed over his prostate again and again, pulling soft mewls right out of his throat.

The blue haired boy watched his face for any signs of discomfort as he added a third finger. It did sting a little, but in all the right ways. So Ashton leaned down and kissed the boy on the bed beneath him. It was just the slide of lips together and them panting against each other’s mouth but it was everything they needed right then and there.

 

“I’m ready” Ashton mumbled against his lips after a short while, needing to feel his boyfriend inside of him already.

“Are you sure?” Michael checked, and Ashton nodded eagerly.

“Yeah – yeah, please babe.”

“Okay sweetheart” the art major replied, brushing his fingers against Ashton’s sweet spot one last time before pulling his fingers out and wiping them on his own bare legs. Then he grabbed the condom, opened it and rolled it onto his own dick. He applied some more lube and stroked himself one, two, three times to spread the liquid.

 

The music major sat up on his knees, lifting his hips up as Michael took the base of his own cock to line it up with the older boy’s hole. Ashton carefully sat down then, holding his breath and squeezing his eyes shut at the burn of it.

“Doing so well baby” Michael praised him in the meantime, holding his hand gently while the other still held on to the base of his dick.

“Feels so good like this, so tight around me” he continued, voice barely above a whisper.

“Fuck.”

 

Ashton stilled the moment his cheeks hit Michael’s thighs, needing a moment to collect himself before properly riding the other boy. He felt so full and hot all over; the feeling was pretty overwhelming. He squeezed the younger boy’s hands which he was still holding and smiled sheepishly at him, feeling fucked out already.

Michael smiled back, making this moment so much sweeter and more intimate than Ashton thought was even possible.

“I love you” he told him.

“I love you too” the art major said.

“But I really need you to move” he chuckled a little at his own eagerness. Ashton just nodded and lifted his hips up, only to lower back down again.

He repeated the motion a few more times, slowly at first but taking up speed quickly. He rolled his hips after a while, staring at Michael to gauge his reaction.

The boy just moaned and pressed his head back into the pillow beneath it, moaning louder than he had all night.

“Shit Ash.”

His hands came up to grab the boy’s waist tightly, guiding him and Ashton wouldn’t have minded if it didn’t remind him of things he shouldn’t be thinking about right now. So without stilling his actions, his hands came up to gently take Michael’s in his own, warning him without words he was not liking this.

The boy’s dark green eyes locked with his own, worry and concern quite obvious in them. He placed his hands on top of Ashton’s thighs instead, not grabbing but just resting them there. 

 

The boy rolled his hips again as to say thank you and then started to bob on top of him quicker and harder, chasing their orgasms. His own cock was extremely hard, red and leaking from where it was slapping against his stomach over and over again. The sounds they were making, the moaning and his arse slapping against Michael’s skin repeatedly, were quite dirty but Ashton absolutely loved it. It made the whole thing only hotter.

“A-ash” the blue haired moaned, biting down on his own lip. The blond reached down to kiss it instead, sucking on it for as far as he could without stopping his movements.

The change of angle caused Michael’s cock to hit his prostate every single time he sunk down. He almost screamed out his boyfriend’s name at the feeling of it.

“Fuck, I’m so close” he breathed out, lips going slack against Michael’s mouth.

The muscles in his thighs were burning, about to give out any second now but he was so close, he simply couldn’t stop, his arms growing tired of keeping him up too.

His boyfriend wrapped a hand around Ashton’s leaking cock in reply, just keeping it wrapped around him so the blonde kept alternating between fucking up into Michael’s fist and sitting down on his cock. It had Ashton seeing stars; quite literally from how hard he was screwing his eyes shut.

‘Shit, shit, shit” he groaned, thrusts growing sloppy now, all sense of rhythm completely lost.

“Come on baby” Michael breathed out, sounding completely out of it, lost in pure pleasure.

“Come for me”

And that’s what did it for the blonde. He rocked his hips one more time before he spilled into the younger boy’s fists, body falling forward and stuttering a little as his orgasm was coursing through his body, shooting his cum onto Michael’s chest and stomach. He wasn’t even done yet when he felt the art major fucking his hips up once, body stilling then and his mouth falling open, his eyes squeezing shut as Ashton’s name flooded from his lips like a mantra as he came.

 

The blonde just let himself fall over so he was lying on top of Michael’s sticky chest, face buried into his sweaty neck. It was only then he felt the burning ache in pretty much all his muscles and his hair sticking to his forehead as he tried to steady his breathing. Michael wasn’t off much better.

“Fuck babe” he stated, as if he didn’t believe this had just happened for real either.

“That was amazing.”

“Yeah” Ashton agreed lazily, feeling his eyes droop already.

Michael’s hands came up to rub his back soothingly, his fingers tracing his spine while they took their time to catch their breath, none of them saying another word.

 

Ashton was pretty sure he would’ve fallen asleep if it hadn’t been for Michael’s hands pushing against his shoulders after a while.

“Baby” he whispered.

He just hummed.

“You gotta move sweetheart…”

“Why?” Ashton whined, feeling way too comfy to move a single, sore muscle.

“Because I am still inside you.”

“Oh” the eldest blushed a little at that. It took all of his willpower to sit up and let Michael pull out of him. He let his body drop to the mattress right away, not caring about the drying cum that was now sticking to not only Michael’s stomach, but his own as well. He listened as the youngest pulled of the condom and threw it away, and then cuddled up against his side, kissing his sweaty forehead.

“Good night baby” he said as he pulled the covers up, covering their naked bodies in case Anne Marie decided to walk in unannounced once again.

Ashton was asleep before he even managed to say the words back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can promise the next chapter will be the day of the wedding.
> 
> The end is in sight now :)   
> Probably four or five chapters and then the storie is over.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, it's the day of the wedding :))
> 
> It's a bit of a short chapter, but otherwise it would be wayyy too long so.. :)

### Friday, October 21st, the day of the wedding

 

The sound of his alarm beeping loudly was what woke Ashton up that morning.

He was a little confused at first, since he was well aware that he was at home and thus didn’t have any classes that day. So he blinked up at the ceiling and rubbed a hand over his face, trying not to move too much since Michael was cuddled up against his chest.

He looked down at the blue mop of hair on top of his shoulder and smiled fondly when he found him drooling a little on his bare skin. It should’ve been at least a little disgusting, but Ashton couldn’t bring himself to care; he would take a shower in a few minutes anyways.

When he looked around the room, he found his and Michael’s garments bags hanging on a hook attached to his door and suddenly remembered why his alarm had gone off: it was the day of the wedding.

 

Michael snored softly – and very adorably, in Ashton’s opinion – when Ashton moved a hand through his messy hair. He felt a little bad about it, but he knew he had no choice but to wake the boy; they had a busy day ahead.

“Mikey” he said, probably way too soft, his hand moving to the boy’s shoulder to shake him a little.

“Michael, you need to wake up babe” he said, a little louder.

The younger boy just made a low whining sound in the back of his throat and kept his eyes shut tightly, causing Ashton to giggle.

“Come on, I know you’re awake.”

“No” he whined stubbornly while trying to bury his face further into Ashton’s chest. The blonde chuckled as he patted his head sympathetically. The day before had been a busy and tiring one, making it harder for both of them to get up and out of bed.

“The wedding’s today, we gotta get ready…”

He carefully got up, giggling as it cause Michael to land face forward onto the mattress. He grumbled a little, but the pushed himself up after a minute or so and left the bed as well.

 

“I’m gonna take a shower” the blonde announced while grabbing a clean pair of boxers which were probably not his own.

“Can I join?” Michael asked, his eyes roaming over his boyfriend’s naked body.

“I don’t wanna shower alone.”

“Sure” Ashton smiled easily, already walking into his bathroom to grab two towels and turn the water on, holding his hand out to feel if it was the right temperature yet.

He was only just letting the water wet his hair, his eyes closed so there wouldn’t get any water in it, when the door to the shower cabin opened again and the younger boy joined him. He lazily wrapped his arms around Ashton’s waist and rested his head on his shoulder so his hair would get wet too, sighing contently.

 

“Are you excited for today?” the blonde asked as he reached for his shampoo, squirting some of it on his hand and then massaging in into blue hair. It wasn’t an easy task with the position they were in, but he made it work.

“Yeah. Bit nervous though…”

“Why?” the eldest questioned, his hands still in Michael’s hair.

“Because your entire family is gonna be there and I wanna make a good impression” he admitted sheepishly.

“I already told you: they’ll love you.”

Michael just hummed.

 

Ashton gently pushed him around so he was directly beneath the jet and washed the soap from his hair, staring at Michael as he stood with his eyes closed and with a content smile on his face. The blonde kissed the corner of his mouth quickly.

“All done” he said then, removing his hands from the boy’s hair and grabbing the shampoo bottle to wash his own.

His boyfriend took it from him though, obviously planning on returning the favour. He turned the boy around so his back was almost against his chest and then started massaging his scalp. Ashton didn’t have to throw his head back because Michael was slightly taller than him, but he did it anyways, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the feeling of gentle fingers moving through his wet hair. It felt amazing.

It wasn’t just the massage the younger boy was giving him that made him feel so content, but also the feeling of pure love that came with taking care and being taken care of by another human being. Even the smallest, most domestic things like washing each other’s hair felt so intimate, made the butterflies inside of Ashton tummy go wild and he absolutely adored it.

 

Once they had both rinsed their bodies with soap and had shared a few more kisses, they pulled on sweatpants and a hoodie and went downstairs to have a late breakfast.

Anne-Marie was already eating her breakfast, looking a little stressed. Harry was seated opposite of her, hair messy and wearing nothing but his boxers and a shirt.

“Morning” Ashton chirped, Michael hot on his heels.

“Good morning dears” Anne Marie smiled at them.

“Where’s Lauren?” Ashton asked while grabbing two of the sandwiches his mother had made.

“She’s already with Celeste and the other bridesmaids, getting ready.”

“The ceremony is in like four hours though” the blonde said, not believing his sister would need more than an hour to get her make-up and hair done.

“Yeah, well” Anne Marie shrugged, giggling a little.

“You know what the girls are like.”

 The music major nodded. He knew Celeste was a bit of a control freak and was probably already way too stressed.

“I am going to the hairdresser in about half an hour. If I am not back before half past eleven, can you start making lunch Ash?”

“Sure.”

 

### ***

 

After lunch they had about an hour and a half to get ready for the day and leave for the ceremony.

They spend the first half hour helping Harry get dressed, making sure the boy looked absolutely flawless. Lauren and Anne Marie had bought him his clothes and at first he didn’t really like them, until Ashton and Michael both told him he looked incredible and, like, _really_ cool.

The young boy was wearing kaki dress pants with a white shirt, dark blue braces and a matching dark blue bow tie. As he put on his darker brown dress shoes, Michael told him to roll up his pants a bit. Ashton chuckled at how hipster his youngest sibling looked right then, but had to admit it wasn’t a bad look at all. All that was missing were glasses and a beanie.

“You look awesome bro” he giggled as he ruffled the boy’s wild hair, erupting the exact same sound from him.

 

“Can I do your hair?” Michael asked when the boy tried to tame it a bit in front of the mirror.

Harry shrugged.

“Sure.”

So Michael lowered the toilet seat and told the blonde to sit on top of it while grabbing a pot of gel.

He rubbed some of it in between his hands and styled the eleven-year-old boy’s hair, creating side bangs like Ashton sometimes had. His hair wasn’t as curly as his brother’s but it was still wavy enough so it didn’t actually look like the emo fringe the eldest had when he was a teen.

Harry stood up then and looked at himself in his mirror, turning his head a little to see it from the side.

“You look good man” Ashton said, softly clasping a hand on his shoulder and standing next to him. The boy beamed proudly.

“What do you say to Michael?” his brother asked him when his sibling was about to leave the bathroom.

“Thank you Mikey” Harry grinned, and then walked out of the bathroom and to his bedroom, wanting to play games until they had to leave.

 

Michael smiled sheepishly at his boyfriend at the nickname, and Ashton could tell he was happy that he and Ashton’s family got along so well. He fitted in perfectly and was practically part of the family already, but the blonde decided now wasn’t the time to think about that kind of stuff.

“Let’s get dressed” he said instead, putting his hand against the small of the younger boy’s back and leading him out of the bathroom.

 

Getting dressed wouldn’t have taken as long as it had, had Michael and Ashton been able not to stare at each other while pulling off their clothes so much, sharing a few too many kisses in the meantime.

Once they were both fully dressed, they stood side by side in front of the mirror, admiring their matching tuxedo’s and the way Michael’s hair was the exact same shade of blue.

“You look so damn hot in that suit…” the blonde mumbled while pulling the other boy a little closer, kissing the corner of his mouth before kissing him – once again – properly.

“You too. I seriously don’t know how I am supposed to keep my hands to myself all day” Michael chuckled before kissing him back.

 

“Will you do my hair too?” Ashton asked while putting on his shoes, looking up at the blue haired boy with big, pleading eyes.

The youngest grinned, yet nodded eagerly and already went to get the hair gel. He stood in between Ashton’s spread legs as he sat on the edge of his bed while he moved his hands through his hair, trying to style each single curl perfectly. Once he – finally – deemed himself done, he got Ashton’s mother’s hairspray and sprayed it all around his head, causing the eldest to cough dramatically.

“Thank you” he smiled sweetly at the boy nonetheless, who then proceeded to do his own hair. Ashton didn’t think it was necessary though, for it looked good no matter what.

 

When they were both completely finished, they went downstairs, dragging Harry along as they went. Anne Marie was just putting on her earrings as they entered the living room and Michael whistled jokingly at her.

“You look beautiful miss Irwin” he told her as she giggled at him.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that before you actually listen?” she chuckled as she shook her head.

“You look all so handsome” she beamed then, clasping her hands together with a proud smile on her face.

“My boys...”

Ashton and Michael shared a look at that, Michael’s cheeks turning a little pink but his eyes so proud and thankful at the same time. The blonde winked at him.

“Let me get my camera” she said, already walking off to find it. She told the boys to stand close together, Michael and Ashton side by side with their arms around each other and Harry in front of them. Just as Anne Marie pressed a button to take the picture, the art major leaned in to kiss his boyfriend’s cheek, causing the woman to coo at them.

“Now one where you look at the camera, please” she said then. Michael faked annoyance but did as he was told anyways.

“Do you want me to take a picture of you with Harry and Ash?” the blue haired boy offered. She nodded.

“But I want one with you and Ash too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter.  
> Next one is gonna be a big one, and not just because it's slightly longer!!!

### Friday, October 21st, the day of the wedding

There were way more people in church when the Irwin family arrived then Ashton had expected. Luckily, Ben was there to show them where they had to sit: on the third row on Jack’s side. Anne-Marie’s oldest brother, his husband and their youngest kids were in the same pew as them, with the rest of their kids and grandkids behind them. There wasn’t that much space, causing Ashton to be squeezed in between his boyfriend and Harry. He didn’t complain though.

 

“Do you think Jack’s nervous?” Michael asked him when the boy smiled and waved once he spotted them in the crowd.

“Hell yeah” Ashton giggled, noticing the nervous edge to his smile right away.

“I bet he’s gonna cry too.”

“Ashton! Language! We’re in church” his mother scolded him with a frown on her face. The blonde mumbled an apology and then giggled at Michael’s amused, yet fond expression.

 

They didn’t have to wait too long for the ceremony to begin.

Soon enough, the doors were closed and the groomsmen took their place beside Jack. Ethan, who was closest to Ashton’s cousin, glanced at him and Michael, grinning at the blonde once he caught his eye and then winking once. The music major looked away quickly, trying to focus on anything but his ex.

The music started playing and a little girl, Celeste’s niece, shyly walked towards the aisle, throwing flower petals from a little, reed basket. Pretty much everyone in the church cooed at her, including Michael.

“She’s so _cute”_ he whispered. Ashton smiled fondly at the boy and nodded, watching as the girl hurried towards her mother who praised her for doing so well once she had reached her.

 

The maid of honour, Celeste’s younger sister, walked down the aisle next. She was wearing a gorgeous light pink dress, the underside of it twisted and swept around her ankles with how long it was. Her blonde hair was curly and bouncing next to the side of her face and Ashton thought she looked absolutely stunning; like a model walking down a runaway and with a bright smile on her face.

She stood still opposite of Ethan, quickly winking at the groom to encourage him. One of the bride’s best friends was walking behind her. She was wearing almost the same dress, but then it was a very light shade of green instead of pink and the lace at the top of it was slightly different too. Her hair was a bright shade of red and very straight and she was practically gleaming.

“Celeste has the prettiest bridesmaids I have ever seen” Michael whispered next to him, his face so close his hot breath hit his ear. Ashton felt Ethan’s eyes on them again, but maybe it was all just I his head.

“Yeah” he agreed quietly. He wasn’t sure why, but he already felt nervous for his sister, knowing she could be quite shy in front of a lot of people she didn’t know that well.

Behind the second bridesmaid was a third, the other best friend of Celeste. She was wearing the yellow version of the dresses, which looked beautiful with her dark brown skin and wild black curls.

Then, finally, Lauren entered the church. Her dress was lilac and gorgeous, and Ashton couldn’t be any prouder of his younger sister. Her hair was curled and someone else had obviously done her make-up and she looked so beautiful, it caused their mother to cry while taking pictures of her.

“Can’t imagine what your mum will be like when Lauren actually gets married herself” Michael chuckled softly.

“Oh my god, she’s gonna be a _mess”_ the blonde giggled a little too oud, covering his mouth with his own hand so no one would hear him.

The girl beamed at them as she passed them and then she stood beside the other bridesmaids.

 

The music got louder and everybody turned their head to see the bride and her father standing in the doorway. All the guests got up on their feet and watched as the two of them slowly walked down the aisle, to the front where Jack was starting to tear up. Ashton couldn’t get over how odd, yet extremely adorable it was to see his tough, older cousin cry at the mere sight of his bride.

“I told you he was going to cry” Ashton whispered to the boy next to him. His boyfriend just hummed.

As Celeste got closer, the pair could finally take a good look at her. Her dress was – of course – white with lace covering the entire dress. It was tight around the middle but got wider around her legs, descending into a pretty big trail, following her down the pathway. The dress didn’t have any straps, but it had very thin, lace sleeves and while Ashton usually didn’t like lace that much, it just fit Celeste really well.

She had a gorgeous updo in her hair, completed with tiny white flowers and a subtle tiara.

All in all, she was by far the prettiest bride Ashton had ever seen.

 

The blonde watched as the bride finally reached her groom, his cousin mouthing something along the lines of ‘ _you look beautiful’_ to her, eyes still big and watery. Celeste giggled softly and gently wiped at the man’s eyes before they both turned to the pastor, who just patiently smiled at their encounter.

Then he spoke up.

 

_“Dearly beloved, we have come together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony. The bond and covenant of marriage was established by God in creation, and our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by His presence and first miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. It signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and His Church, and Holy Scripture commends it to be honoured among all people.”_

 

Ashton had trouble listening to it. His mum had taken him to church quite often when he was younger, but now they only went for Christmas or when someone got married or died.

Aunt Liz and Celeste’s parents were quite strict about going to church _at least_ once a month though, and even though Jack and Celeste didn’t really go to church on Sunday anymore, they still had chosen for a traditional, Christian wedding. Ashton didn’t mind, but he did find it a bit hard to concentrate.

 

“ _The union of husband and wife is intended by God for their mutual joy; for the help and comfort given each other in prosperity and adversity; and, when it is God’s will, for the precreation of children in their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord.”_

Ashton looked around the beautiful decorated room; at the flowers, the garlands and the candles. He barely listened as he looked at Celeste’s family, at the bridesmaids and at Liz who was sending her youngest a look because he was whispering something to his boyfriend during the ceremony.

 

As his eyes took the groomsmen in, his eyes landed on his ex-boyfriend once again, and just like the last time, the man was already staring at him. His signature complacent smirk graced around his lips again as he looked right into Ashton’s big, hazel eyes and the boy cast them downwards quickly. He could still feel Ethan’s eyes on him as his fingers played with the fabric of his pants and it made him feel quite uneasy. He didn’t like to know he was being watched.

Michael leaned in after a while, his lips almost brushing against the older boy’s ear as he talked to him quietly.

“You okay?”

Ashton nodded quickly and send his boyfriend a smile, but the worried look didn’t quite leave his eyes.

“Is it Ethan? He’s been staring at you the entire time…”

So apparently Michael had seen it too.

Instead of replying, the blonde just shrugged and turned his attention to the pastor again.

The art major’s hand rested on top of his knee though, which was way more comforting than Ashton had ever though it could possibly be.

 

“Into this holy union, Jack Hemmings and Celeste Bible now come to be joined. If any of you can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, speak now; or else for ever hold your peace.”

The groom looked around the church, a look in his eyes as if he were trying to dare anyone to say anything, causing some people, including his almost-wife, to chuckle softly.

“Celeste, will you have this man to be your husband; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honour and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”

The girl took a deep breath and looked right into Jack’s eyes as she answered.

“I will.”

 

Ashton smiled as Liz and Anne-Marie both reached for a tissue to wipe at their eyes.

 _  
_ “Jack, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?

As Jack answered, his voice was a little wobbly, telling everyone in the church he was way more emotional than he probably would’ve wanted to admit.

“I will.”

### ***

“It’s good to see you again” a low voice behind him said when Ashton stood at the bar to get him and Michael a drink.

He turned around despite already knowing who the voice belonged to and forced himself to calm down as he held on tight to the two beers in his hands.

Then he met the man’s eyes. They were still the same, gorgeous shade of blue and to Ashton, they were still as breath-taking as they had ever been; but now it was for another reason than it had been when the blonde had seen them for the first time.

The older man was smiling kindly at him, but Ashton could see so much more in his eyes, and it caused a shiver to run down his spine.

He didn’t really know what to say, didn’t want to cause a scene during his cousin’s big day. So he just mumbled a ‘you too’ and tried to walk past his ex-boyfriend.

 

“Where’s your boyfriend… what’s his name again?”

Ethan looked around the room where the party was being held.

“Mark?” he asked, just before Ashton was able to respond.

“His name is Michael. He’s sitting with my family” the music major replied as calmly as possible. Ethan could probably see right through him; they knew each other well.

The brown haired man looked at where Anne Marie, Lauren and Michael were chatting and laughing loudly and squinted his eyes.

“Well, if you’re happy with him…” he shrugged and looked at something behind Ashton, rather than at the blonde himself. As if he was already done with this conversation, even though he had started it in the first place.

“I am” Ashton smiled, suddenly feeling a little more confident. Then he turned around and moved to walk to his boyfriend and his family.

 

When he thought he was out of Ethan’s distance, he let out a relieved sigh; but then a hand wrapped itself around his wrist.

“You’re still mine Irwin. Don’t think you’re not, just because you broke up with me.”

And with that, he let go and walked away, leaving an astonished and slightly panicked Ashton behind.

 

He quickly walked up to his family and sat down next to Michael, handing him his drink and smiling at him.

“You alright?” the blue haired boy asked, and of course he would be able to look right through him.

“Yeah” he lied.

Michael looked at him a little longer but then decided to let it slide and went back to his conversation with Anne Marie. He placed his hand on top of Ashton’s thigh nonetheless, squeezing gently to let him know he was there. 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Trigger Warning***

### Friday, October 21st, the day of the wedding

Luke, Calum, Michael and Ashton had just played their song for the bride and groom and all of their guests, and they absolutely loved it. Celeste was currently hugging the young blonde so tight, Ashton was a little afraid she’d throttle him or whatever.

His younger cousin beamed with pride though, especially when his parents and eldest brother walked up to them to tell him how well he did too.

 

“That was gorgeous guys; I’m so proud of you!” Anne Marie beamed when Michael and Ashton reached her, her arms pulling them both in for a hug.

“My talented boys…” she mumbled once she had let go again, and Ashton watched as the art major blushed a little and smiled down at the ground. He knew how much it meant to him to be accepted by his boyfriend’s family, especially his mother.

 

Some people walked up to them to tell them how great they did as well, and after a little while, Michael clung to Ashton and hid his face in his neck shyly, letting out a huge, relieved breath.

The eldest chuckled a little as he rubbed his back soothingly.

“You did great babe, they loved it. You better get used to it, ‘cause I’m gonna force you to play with me every single time from now on.”

“I don’t think that’s really my thing though. I’d rather make my art in private and then hang it in a gallery where people can admire it without me around…”

“You’re too modest” Ashton giggled and then kissed the top of his head.

“Whatever.”

“I’m gonna go pee real quick.”

 

The blonde watched as his boyfriend walked away and then stayed with his mum to chat a bit. The formal part of the night was almost over, meaning all there was left to do for Ashton was slow dance with Michael and drink maybe a little more than he usually would and then go home. Maybe he’d get busy with Michael for a bit before actually going to sleep. It sounded perfect, really.

 

“Hi Anne” an all too familiar voice chirped happily, and Ashton just wanted to roll his eyes and groan really loudly. Instead, he just watched as Ethan kissed

his mother on the cheek and greeted her like an old friend.

“Ethan, it’s so good to see you again! How are you?” she asked him while Ashton contemplated just walking away.

“I am good, how are you? You look lovely, by the way.”

“Oh, thank you dear” Ashton’s mother giggled cheerfully.

The two engaged in friendly conversation, both of them just telling the other what they’ve been up to the last few weeks or so in which they apparently hadn’t seen each other while Ashton just stared at the door through where Michael had disappeared; as if that would make him come back any quicker.

 

Suddenly there was loud, excited chatter going on as a group of girls stood together, Celeste in front of them with her back towards the crowd, her bouquet in her hands. Apparently it was time for the bride to throw the flowers.

Lauren was one of the many single girls, trying to catch it, and Ashton giggled and rolled his eyes at the girl. She was way too young to get married and had never been in a serious relationship before; why would she want to catch the bouquet in the first place?

Just when Celeste wanted to throw the flowers, Michael came walking out of the bathroom, seeming a little surprised by the big group of young women he was suddenly standing right next to.

The blonde heard the bride counting to three and then she threw the flowers into the group of girls. Her aiming was a bit off and before he could even properly blink, Michael was staring at the flowers he was now clutching to his chest. All girls around him started to cheer, Lauren being the loudest and the blue haired boy’s eyes found Ashton’s, the blonde winking at him as he giggled softly.

The youngest of the two quickly walked up to him and sheepishly handed him the flowers.

“Guess the universe wants us to get married, huh?” he joked, much to Anne Marie’s joy who cooed at them.

“Guess the universe forgot we are poor uni students who only started dating a few days ago…” the music major mumbled.

“Days?”

Ashton’s eyes grew big as he looked into Michael’s, feeling the panic quickly build up inside of him.

“He always says that” Michael chuckled easily, as if he wasn’t freaking out as much as Ashton was because of his silly mistake.

“Yeah, because it feels like yesterday that Mikey and I went on our first day” he giggled, blushing, but not for the reason Anne Marie probably thought.

“That’s cute” his mother laughed, and then she turned her attention back to Ashton’s ex-boyfriend, her son’s slip up already forgotten.

 

The pair let out a silent breath of relieve, smiling as they caught each other’s eyes once more.

“Let’s get something to drink” Michael suggested, and Ashton nodded thankfully. He really didn’t need to hear Ethan talk about how well he was doing at his new job and how successful he was being, how much he had his life figured out already.

The boys both ordered a glass of red wine and joined Luke and Calum, who were sitting somewhere on the side, just chatting and watching the dancing crowd. Ashton wanted to dance too, but it was still early. They had enough time left for that.

 

### ***

 

Ashton shivered a little as he stepped out into the cold, October night’s air. He figured it probably wasn’t healthy to go from such a hot room to the outside cold without pulling something on, but he just needed to place his and Michael’s jacket in his mother’s car so they wouldn’t forget it later on. They both had a few drinks already and Ashton was pretty sure they wouldn’t stop drinking and dancing soon.

 

He unlocked the car and carefully placed the two jackets on the back seat. He shut the door again and locked the car, then turned around to quickly go back inside.

“Hey you.”

The blonde bumped into a solid chest and before he even realized what was going on, a strong hand had pushed him so his back was against his mother’s car, two arms on either side of him to keep him from walking away.

He looked up into Ethan’s eyes and swallowed nervously.

“Let me go.”

“Hmm” the older man hummed, as if he was seriously considering listening to the blonde while they both knew he wasn’t.

“Nah.”

“I meant it, when I said you’re still mine.”

Ashton brought his hands up to Ethan’s chest and pushed against him, but it was all in vain. The other guy was bigger and stronger than him, and Ashton knew he’d never win.

“What? Did you really think I’d let you walk away so easily?”

He leaned in to kiss the music major, but he turned his face away. Ethan’s left hand grabbed his face painfully, fingers digging into his cheeks as he turned his head and forced him to stay still while he kissed him, growling a little as he did.

“You know I always get what I want Ashton. And it’s _you_ that I want” he hissed.

The older boy kissed him again, licking into his mouth and sucking on his bottom lip while Ashton struggled to get free. He whined into the kiss, but definitely not out of pleasure.

“Please” he managed to whimper, hands still pushing against the man in front of him. But instead of giving him some space, his ex just leaned forward and let his entire body press up against Ashton’s.

 

The man moved his face so it was buried in the crook of the younger boy’s neck, sucking on his cold skin while the hand that had been holding his face travelled down to his crotch. He just palmed him over his trousers and there was nothing the music major could do about it.

At this point, he couldn’t even bring himself to try and stop the other boy anymore, knowing he’d only make it worse for himself if he did; knowing he’d only make Ethan angry.

 

“God, I’ve missed you so much.”

The other man now moved his hand from Ashton’s crotch to his arse, squeezing it while he rolled his hips into the blonde boy’s. The boy could feel his ex-boyfriend’s hard on against his thigh, and it disgusted him so much he felt sick in his stomach.

“Please, just let me go” he started to sob, but made no intention to save himself. He was so scared, he barely couldn’t move anymore. It was of no use anyways.

Apparently, Ethan didn’t even bother to reply, just kept feeling him up and kept grinding against him, panting wetly against Ashton’s neck.

“Please” Ashton sobbed again, not knowing what else to do. He’d like to think he had never felt so used and dirty and just completely helpless before, but that wouldn’t be the truth. This was far from the first time.

“Shut up” Ethan growled, going back to kissing the younger boy’s lips and biting down hard, hurting him both psychically and mentally.

He licked over his bruising and slightly bleeding lip then, gently; like an apology, Ashton knew, because he had always done it like that.

“I’m sorry. I love you” he mumbled, suddenly bringing his hand back to Ashton’s groin, squeezing and palming him even though he probably couldn’t be any softer than he was right then.

Ashton wanted to start pleading again but knew better. Instead, he just cried while Ethan just did as he pleased.

While his left hand kept groping his crotch, his right hand took a hold of his hair, pulling way too hard, causing Ashton to cry out. The older man took advantage of it by shoving his tongue into the blonde’s mouth.

 

“I’ve missed this” he panted in between kisses, only adding up to Ashton’s distress. He tried to push at Ethan’s chest again, but it only resulted in the man slapping his face once.

“Stop it!” he bellowed. Then his face went soft again and he kissed him gently.

Ashton just cried, tasting his own tears on his tongue when Ethan forced him to open up.

 

“Hey!” a familiar voice screamed angrily, and Ethan paused all of his actions to look up. Ashton peeked over his shoulder and sighed a breath of relief when he noticed it was Michael.

He brought his hands up to Ethan’s chest to push him away again, but somehow couldn’t find the strength to actually do it.

“Mike” he whimpered softly, feeling his entire body calm down as the blue haired boy ran towards them, tears still streaming down his face.

“Get off of him!” the youngest of the three spat as he approached them. Ethan didn’t comply though.

“I said: get the _fuck_ off of him!” Michael repeated, his face going red with anger. Once he was close enough, he fisted the back of Ethan’s shirt and pulled him off of his boyfriend. Ashton had no idea if the blue haired boy would actually be strong enough to fight Ethan, but was relieved to finally be freed either way.

 

He stayed leaning against his mother’s car while Michael threw the first punch, hitting the older man right in the face. He stumbled backwards and reached for his bleeding nose, cursing loudly.

Then he regained himself and stepped closer to the art major, hitting him right back. Ashton gasped as Michael fell to the floor, Ethan kneeling over him and hitting him again. The youngest did manage to push him off of him and hit him right back, but the blonde didn’t think Michael would win this on his own.

He figured he should probably run and get help, but his legs wouldn’t listen to his brain. He was completely petrified from fear.

 

“What’s going on here?!”

Ashton didn’t have to look up to know that was Ben’s voice. Multiple people came running outside and up to them and then Jack was pulling Michael off of Ethan. Ben held the eldest back while Jack and Luke each held one of Michael’s arms. Calum, in the meantime, stood in front of Ashton and looked into his eyes worryingly.

“What happened?” he asked in a soft and gentle voice, taking in his messy hair, tear-stained cheeks and bleeding lip.

“That asshole of an ex of his was fucking harassing him” Michael spat before Ashton even got the chance to answer. He probably couldn’t have anyways. His boyfriend’s voice was full of venom, yet the blonde could tell he was on the verge of crying at the same time.

“What? No, I wasn’t. You’re just jealous that Ashton went and cheated on you with-“ Ethan smirked, sounding way too cocky for a guy with a black eye and bleeding nose, but Michael interrupted him.

“Shut the _fuck_ up!”

Ashton kept his eyes down, stared at Michael’s shoes as they screamed at each other.

“He’s _crying_ ; do you really think I’d believe you, saying he _wanted this?_ ”

The art major’s voice went up with every word he spoke, obviously growing so frustrated he had started crying too.

“Let me go” Michael pleaded then, his voice soft again.

“I just want to get to Ashton” he promised Jack.

Ashton didn’t look up to see if his cousins had listened to him, but was relieved when he felt two  familiar arms wrap around him and pull him in. He fell forward, into Michael’s embrace and buried his face in his chest. But instead of it calming him down, it only made him cry out louder, his hands holding onto Michael’s shirt so tight his knuckles turned white. He could feel a comforting hand on his shoulder and figured it was Calum, but he wasn’t too sure.

 

The men around them were silent for a while, letting Ashton calm down before Luke spoke up for the first time.

“Ash…”

The blonde didn’t answer him.

“Can you tell us what happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is almost finished, I just need to write the end of the very last chapter and then the story is completely done.
> 
> I am already working on a new story, so if you like this, you should probably subscribe to me or follow my tumblr so you won't miss it :)
> 
> xx Abbypd (.tumblr.com ;-) )


	21. Chapter 21

### Friday, October 21st, the day of the wedding

_“Ash…”_

_The blonde didn’t answer him._

_“Can you tell us what happened?”_

 

The music major shook his head, despite it still being pressed tightly against his boyfriend, and whimpered softly, his voice muffled by Michael’s shirt. It was probably dirty from his tears and snot by now, but neither of the boys seemed to care about that.

“Baby” the blue haired boy almost whispered. Ashton could feel hot tears landing on top of his hair and knew it belonged to the younger boy.

“Did you want Ethan to kiss you?”

“No” he cried, feeling pathetic.

“Did you tell Ethan that?”

Ashton just nodded.

Everyone around them stayed silent.

 

“Ash?”

The boy pulled away at Michael’s serious tone and looked into his eyes.

“Has this happened before?”

The blonde felt his lower lip tremble.

“Yeah.”

“He did this when you were still together too, didn’t he?”

Ashton looked down at his feet again, aware everyone around him was waiting for his reply. Of course Michael would figure it out immediately.

“Yeah.”

“Bullshit!” Ethan spat.

“I treated you like a fucking princess and everyone here knows that.”

Nobody said a thing for a while, just waited for Ashton to speak up again. He wasn’t sure he could though, didn’t know what to say without crumbling completely.

 

Ashton looked up again, stared into Michael’s eyes. They were so kind, and so concerned and that’s when the blonde knew it was okay. It would all just be okay.

“He hit me” he whispered.

“And then he’d tell everyone I had been drunk and had walked into a door or got into a fight or whatever.”

Michael swallowed audibly.

“He made me have sex with him even when I didn’t want to all the time.”

The art major’s grip around Ashton tightened at that.

“Do you remember when I was in the hospital after that car accident?” Ashton asked, looking at Luke and Jack now. Both boys nodded, their faces resembling pure _horror_.

“It wasn’t a car accident.”

 

The blonde watched as Jack glared at his best man.

“Jack…” he said, sounding so angry and sort of betrayed, his voice alone made shivers run down Ashton’s entire body.

“Please tell me you don’t believe that _bullshit!_ You know I’d _never_ do that.”

The groom didn’t reply.

“He’s just saying all this because Michael caught him cheating, the little slut; of course it’s not true.”

“I think we should let the police decide of that” Ben replied coldly, and Ashton swallowed nervously.

“ _Jack…”_

“He was covered in bruises and cuts all the time, Ethan!” Jack was screaming now, his face going red with how furious he was.

“It actually makes so much sense, now.”

It made Ashton sick in the stomach to hear everybody talk about him like he wasn’t even there. It made it seem like he was watching a movie he wasn’t actually part of, yet the tears on his face and the pain he felt all over proved this was real. _Way too real._

“I’m calling the police” Luke murmured after a short moment of silence, and then he walked away with his phone pressed against his ear. Ben was still holding onto Ethan tightly, making sure he couldn’t go anywhere while Michael and Calum were still shielding the blonde from him while comforting him at the same time. Jack just stared at Ethan while he tried to progress the new information about his best friend. Or, well, his former best friend.

 

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur to Ashton. The seven of them stayed outside waiting for the police; Anne-Marie, Lauren, Liz and Celeste joining them later and some other people watching from a distance. Ashton listened as Jack quickly  explained to them what had happened and cringed every other second because simply hearing it made him scared to death all over. Michael noticed and rubbed circles into his back, trying too sooth him. It didn’t work all that well though.

His mother started to sob after only two sentences and once Jack was done, she ran up to her son to pull both him and his boyfriend in her embrace.

 

When the police arrived, Jack told the entire story yet again, simply because Ashton and Michael both couldn’t. It didn’t take too long before Ethan was taken to the station with them and an officer told Ashton – or rather Michael, for Ashton didn’t listen at all – that he was expected to come to the office the next day to testify.

After that, Ashton apologized to Jack and Celeste for ruining their wedding day, the couple telling him over and over again it was alright. Then Anne Marie and Lauren – and Harry, even though he didn’t really know what had happened – hugged and kissed the crying blonde and then his mother took him and Michael home.

 

The music major fell asleep the moment his head touched his pillow, drifting into a restless sleep, filled with hunting nightmares. Luckily, Michael was there to comfort and calm him every single time he woke up screaming.

 

### ***

### Saturday, October 22nd

 

The last time Ashton woke up, it was with his head on Michael’s chest, the younger boy’s left hand rubbing up and down his back and his right caressing his cheek softly. His hair was sticking to his forehead and his head and throat hurt, but other than that, he felt quite alright. You know, considering what had happened and all that.

The blonde slowly opened his eyes and looked at the blue haired boy, smiling a little when he noticed he was already looking at him.

“Did you know you’ve slept for fifteen hours?” was the first thing he said.

“No” Ashton giggled a little.

“But it should’ve been more. I’m so tired” the blonde whined.

Michael hummed.

He took a breath and opened his mouth to say something then, but obviously decided against it. Ashton just looked at him and waited for him to speak up.

And so the art major tried again.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired” Ashton joked.

“Just tired?”

“No…”

The eldest took a deep breath.

 

“I guess it hasn’t sunk in yet. Like, not completely.”

Michael nodded; Ashton could tell by the way his chin accidentally bumped into the top of his head.

“I mostly just feel bad for other people. For you, that you had to see all that happen. For Jack and Celeste because I ruined their wedding day and for my mother and siblings for finding out like this. Or, like, for finding out at all.”

Michael hummed, taking it in and clearly thinking his reply through.

“Why did you never tell anyone?”

Ashton shrugged, nosing at Michael’s bare chest as he thought about it. It was ridiculous how calm the younger boy managed to make him feel, and he didn’t even know how to begin to thank his boyfriend for it.

“I didn’t want to bother them with it. And, like… I guess it’s not real if you never say it out loud, y’know?”

“Yeah…”

“I wish you would’ve told someone though.”

Ashton sighed. He knew the younger boy was right.

 

“Are you nervous to go to the police today?” Michael continued to ask after a short moment of slightly tense silence.

Ashton groaned.

“I’d already forgotten about that…”

The art major moved his fingers through his hair gently. He didn’t say anything. Ashton guessed it was because he wasn’t quite sure how to handle this situation. And he didn’t blame him; he didn’t even know it himself.

“I don’t want to go.”

“You have no choice” Michael said, sounding more sure of himself than he had all morning.

The blonde furrowed his brows and shifted so he could look up at the other boy, his chin now digging into Michael’s sternum.

“You can’t let him get away with this, Ash” the blue haired boy argued, even though he hadn’t even said anything yet. Obviously, the look in his eyes had been enough for his boyfriend to know he didn’t agree _at all._

“I don’t wanna talk about. I don’t even want to think about it anymore.”

“It’s better if you do, baby” Michael whispered before carefully kissing the older man’s forehead.

Ashton really wanted to argue with him, be stubborn and try to get out of it, but he knew that even if Michael would give in, his mother never would. He’d have to go either way.

 

And, well, maybe Michael was kinda right.

Maybe it was better if he did something about this, now that he had the opportunity. He had tried to just ignore and forget it for quite a while, hoping the memories and nightmares would just disappear on their own, but they never had and they probably never would.

Maybe it would be good to tell the police, maybe even get some professional help and to learn how to deal with his past. It was time for closure.

 

“Do you know if mum’s home?” Ashton asked. He didn’t really feel like facing her or Lauren today. Or at least not yet, seeing as they were leaving tonight and he’d still like to say goodbye to them first.

“Yeah, she’s downstairs.”

“Can we please stay here until we have to go to the police?”

“We can, but we should probably go soon, since it’s already four p.m.” Michael answered him. Ashton sighed loudly, feeling the nerves building up inside of him.

“Will you go with me?” the blonde asked, looking into Michael’s eyes pleadingly.

Said boy smiled at him and cupped his jaw, his thumb stroking his cheek lovingly.

“Of course I’ll go with you. I will _always_ go wherever you tell me to go.”

Ashton giggled a little.

“You’re such a sap.”

And then he kissed him.

 

“Yeah, but you love me for it.”

 

### ***

 

Telling the police about his relationship with his abusive ex-boyfriend was definitely the hardest thing Ashton had ever done.

 

It was harder than lying to a nine-year-old Harry as to why he couldn’t come to his birthday party since he couldn’t show up covered in bruises and it was harder than having to watch Ethan pretending to be worried about Ashton while he had been the reason the blonde had been in the hospital in the first place.

It was hard to tell about all the awful things that man had done to him after having them pushed to the back of his head for so long and it was hard to watch Michael’s reaction to every single word he said.

Ashton wasn’t sure when the tears had started to stream down his face, but it was probably right after Michael’s first tear had rolled down his cheek.

 

He eventually managed to tell the entire story, with some help from his boyfriend and then the officer told him he could go home and they’d let him know when the trial would take place.

 

Before they could finally go home though, a woman came up to them to talk about a victim assistance program he should probably follow, handing them pamphlets. Ashton tried to stuff them into his jeans pocket, but Michael took them from him, folded them neatly and put them in the pocket of his jacket and then thanked the woman.

 

“I am _not_ going to therapy” Ashton said the moment they stepped into their car.

Michael stared at him incredulously while putting his seatbelt on. In the meantime, Ashton started the car and quickly drove away from the police station. He just wanted to pack his bags, say goodbye to his family and go _home_ , where he could pretend yesterday evening had never even happened and where school would distract him from his thoughts.

“Babe…” Michael tried.

“You haven’t even given it a chance yet.”

Ashton shook his head slowly while taking a sharp turn; they were almost home.

“I don’t wanna go to therapy and I don’t wanna go to the trial. I just want to go home, go to school, live my life like I always did and forget about _everything_. And most of all, I just want you, and my mum and everybody else to treat me like they always did.”

“Ash-”

“No! I am sick of this. I get that you’re worried, but you’re not making this any easier.”

Michael just looked at him, completely at a loss of what to say or do.

“I don’t need therapy Mikey; all I need is your support and some time. We’ll get there.”

The car came to a halt in front of Ashton’s elderly house, but both boys stayed in their seat.

“And you will get my support, babe. But I don’t know what to do when you have a nightmare or when you freak out over something I don’t even understand. I don’t know how to handle this situation either; I just want what is best for you.”

Ashton stayed silent, biting his bottom lip as he thought his boyfriend’s words over.

“We could go to therapy together?” Michael tried.

The blonde still didn’t reply.

“Can you at least give it a thought?”

“Yeah” Ashton promised him.

“Thank you” the art major smiled genuinely at him.

“Now come here.”

And that was all it took to have Ashton leaning over the gear box to kiss his boyfriend, his fingers caressing his cheeks. The kiss was careful at first, cautious even, but then Michael kissed him harder and the blonde was the one to deepen it. And really, this was all he had craved all day long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hoped you liked this chapter and are satisfied with how it has turned out so far.  
> Only one more chapter to go!
> 
> Let me know what you thought!


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's a wrap!
> 
> I'm sorry it took a while, life's been crazy busy lately.
> 
> I hope you guys like this!

### Four years later

Michael took a deep breath as he heard the music beginning to play. He bit on his bottom lip as he locked eyes with his mother, who winked at him to encourage him.

She was wearing a beautiful dark blue dress and her hair was done so gorgeously, Michael was pretty sure he had never seen his mother look any more beautiful than she did right then.

“Ready?” he asked her, even though it was him who was obviously not ready at all.

“Whenever you are, dear” she smiled at him.

“Well, that could take a while, so I suggest we just go for it.”

His mum laughed and then linked her arm through her son’s, the two of them turning towards the door.

 

The moment they stepped out of it, the crowd in the church rose to their feet, all eyes staring at the couple as they walked down the aisle.

He could only see Calum and Harry at the end of it, all other groomsmen hiding behind friends and family.

Lauren and her boyfriend were in the front row on the right side and Michael waved at them once his mother and him had neared the end of the way too long walk to the front of the church. The young woman giggled and waved back at him, a bright smile on her face.

 

When they had finally reached the small steps Michael was supposed to climb, his mother patted him on the shoulder and stepped to the left to stand next to Michael’s father.

The red haired man stood next to Calum, facing Harry and staring at the door he had not entered through nervously.

He wasn’t sure why his palms were starting the sweat and his heart was nearly beating out of his chest; it just was.

“Please don’t cry. I said you wouldn’t, and Luke decided to bet on it…” Calum leaned in to whisper in his ear, and Michael rolled his eyes.

“I’m disappointed in you, Cal; I thought you knew me.”

The raven haired boy beside him just huffed.

Then the door finally opened, revealing Ashton and Anne-Marie, their arms intertwined like Michael’s and Karen’s had been.

The curly blonde smiled bashfully at the younger man while he stared at him with sparkles in his eyes.

This was really happening.

 

“Hi” Ashton mouthed once they had finally reached the front of the church and Anne Marie walked to the side to watch the ceremony with Lauren and Mark.

Michael smiled at him.

“Hey” he whispered.

The blonde reached out for him and the red haired man took his hands in his, squeezing them a little. Luckily, Ashton’s hands were just as warm and sweaty as his own.

He looked into the man’s hazel eyes and found he was unable to look away. There was so much emotion, so much love in them; they captivated Michael.

 

“ _We are gathered here today to celebrate one of life’s greatest moments, and to cherish the words which shall unite Ashton Fletcher Irwin and Michael Gordon Clifford in marriage.”_

Michael still didn’t look away, and he was thankful Ashton wasn’t either. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but hearing these words were kinda intimate and there was no one else Michael would rather share this moment with; obviously, but, like, Michael's brain had turned to mush at this point and he was just really in love with his almost-husband.

 

_“This ceremony will not create a relationship that does not already exist between you; it is a symbol of how far you have come in the past four years. It is a symbol of the promises you will make to each other to continue growing stronger as individuals and as partners, no matter what challenges or successes you encounter together in the years before you._

_Today, you lives – which began on separate paths – will be joined as one.”_

Michael watched as Ashton’s smile widened at that, showing of his adorable dimples. No matter how many times the red haired had seen them, he could never get enough of them, simply because seeing them meant his man was happy.

 

Michael and Ashton’s relationship had never really been easy, especially since the day of Jack’s wedding. The weeks, months that had followed that night had been hard on both of them; Ashton because he had all these nightmares and flashbacks and Michael because he didn’t know how to deal with them. It had almost broken them up because the blonde didn’t want to be handled with care but Michael didn’t know what else to do.

After a _lot_ of whining from the youngest, Ashton had decided to go to therapy and after a short while, his boyfriend had even joined him.

Sure, it hadn’t been easy, but Michael had known back then that talking to each other was the only solution.

 

And it had worked.

 

Ashton still had nightmares even now and then, even four years later, but they weren’t as scary anymore, didn’t ruin his mood for one week straight.

And Michael learned how to handle the situation, learned how to show annoyance and how to have a normal, adult quarrel with his partner without being afraid of scaring Ashton.

 

Michael was woken up from his short little daydream when Michael’s five and seven year old cousins carried in a rather small, wooden box. They placed it on top of a table on the side and then ran back to their parents, causing several people in the church to chuckle.

 

Then Lauren came up to them and handed Ashton a bottle of wine from the year they first met each other. It was a little cliché, but Ashton loved it.

“The grooms have both written a letter, describing why they fell in love with each other and what they love about the other” the officiant said to the crowd, and then he turned towards the couple.

“I want to ask you to put your letters and the bottle of wine in the box and to seal it shut, only to open it at your very first anniversary.”

 

The blonde stepped forward first to put the bottle of wine and his letter in the box, Michael following suit.

They grabbed a hammer together to shut the box, making a little more noise than anticipated. Ashton kissed the younger man’s cheek once their box was sealed.

 

“Then it’s now time for your vows.”

The officiant stepped back, since the couple had written their own vows. Michael could feel his heartbeat picking up and he swallowed quickly. He really wanted to make this perfect for Ashton.

 

 _“_ Michael _”_ Ashton started, sounding just as nervous as Michael felt. The two of them locked eyes and then the blonde continued with a small, private smile on his face.

“My Michael. First of all, I would like to thank you for the past four years we had together. You were there with me during the happy times and you were there through the bad. You supported me when I wanted to give up and you forced me to push through, and for that, I will forever be thankful.

I have loved you with all of my heart; I still do and I always will.“

The red haired man took another deep breath as he smiled and nodded at the man in front of him. Calum was so gonna lose his bet to Luke.

 

“I promise I will love you when you come home from work grumpy and tired.

I promise I will love you when you don’t want to wake up and grumble at me for trying to get you to work on time.

I promise I will love you when times get rough and you don’t know how to go on.

I promise I will love you when you get sick, old and bald and I promise I will be there for you no matter what, for as long as we both may live.”

 

_“I love you, now and forever.”_

 

Michael wiped at the tear that rolled down his face and chuckled quietly as he looked up at the ceiling, as if that would stop the tears from falling. When he looked back into Ashton’s eyes though, he could see the man wasn’t of much better than him.

“I love you” he mouthed back, although that would be very clear once he’d be done with his own vows as well.

 

The officiant nodded at him then, telling Michael without words it was his turn.

 

“Ashton” he started, voice already wobbly. The couple shared a look, and Michael just couldn’t help but smile till his cheeks hurt.

“You know I usually don’t have trouble speaking my mind…”

The church – especially Michael’s side of it – laughed a little at the understatement.

“I pretty much always know what to say and I am never afraid to say it. But this, writing my vows to you, is the hardest thing I have ever done. And not because I don’t know what to say - because there is so much I want to say to you - but it’s like none of the words I could say are good enough for you.”

He watched as Ashton _already_ had to wipe a tear away, and that’s when his own threatened to roll down his cheeks as well.

“Ashton, I love you with all of my heart; every single part of you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you; come home from work together, cook dinner together, spend a lazy Sunday in bed together. I want to have children together, bring them to school together, teach them how to ride a bike together. I want to grow old together, want to lose our hair together, get dentures together.”

The blonde giggled at that, through his tears of joy and it was probably the prettiest thing Michael had ever seen.

“My vow, my promise to you is simple; I’ve made it four years ago already, but I still want to make sure you remember it and know I meant every word of it.”

The youngest took another deep breath, and Ashton squeezed his hand in response.

“I vow to love you through the good and the bad, through health and sickness. I promise I will stay by your side till death do us part, no matter what trouble may lie ahead. But most of all, I promise you I will never stop to paint your roses red.”

At that, the blonde dropped his head and sobbed almost soundlessly. He brought both hands up to his eyes to wipe at them and Michael held his breath, afraid he had said something wrong.

When Ashton looked up and locked eyes with him, he could see the smile on his lips and the sparks in his eyes though, causing all Michael’s worries to disappear. The music producer took a step forward and kissed his almost-husband on the lips briefly (to keep it PDA and such) but it was enough for Michael. At least for now.

 

There was a short moment of silence after that, and then the officiant spoke up.

“May I have the rings please?” he asked, looking of the direction of where he thought the ring bearer was supposed to be. The three year old was seated on top of Celeste’s lap and Michael watched as Jack quickly handed him the pillow with two golden rings of it, ushering the toddler to bring it to Uncle Ashton and Uncle Michael.

 

“Michael, please place this ring on Ashton’s finger and repeat after me: ‘ _Ashton, I give you this ring as a daily reminder of my love for you.’”_

The youngest did as he was told and carefully slipped the ring onto the blonde’s finger.

The officiant made Ashton say the exact same to Michael and he repeated him solemnly. Then he pushed the ring onto the now black haired man.

“You have made your marriage vows to one another, witnessed by your friend and family. You have sealed your vows with the giving and receiving of these rings. So now, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss one another.”

The man had barely finished his sentence when Michael leaned in to kiss Ashton hard, cupping his jaw tenderly.

“I love you” he whispered into the kiss and then they broke apart, their foreheads resting against each other with their eyes closed for a few seconds before they really pulled away. All their friends and family were standing, clapping and cheering when Michael looked around and he couldn’t do anything but beam proudly, holding Ashton’s hand tightly.

 

### ***

 

“What are you thinking about?” Ashton mused during dinner as the newlyweds were feeding each other ice cream.

“Nothing” Michael murmured with a small smile on his face.

“Tell me” the eldest pushed.

The raven haired man didn’t respond though.

“Michael Gordon Irwin Clifford” he tried again in a slightly stern voice. Michael’s entire face lit up at that.

“Oh my god, that sounds amazing” he beamed.

“Yeah, I’ve been wanting to say this ever since you asked me to marry you” Ashton giggled at his own confession.

“Say it again!”

“Michael Gordon Irwin-Clifford?”

“Yes, Ashton Fletcher Irwin-Clifford?”

Both of them giggled again that time.

“Tell me what you’re thinking about?” Ashton pleaded.

“I was thinking…” he started, and then interrupted himself to take a bite of the ice cream his husband held in front of his mouth.

“Maybe we could tell the way we met in our speech…”

“Everybody already knows that though.”

“No, I mean the real way” Michael looked into Ashton’s eyes as he said it and waited patiently until he realized what he was talking about.

“Oh, you mean the whole fake-relationship thing?” the blonde chuckled, keeping his voice down so his mother and Karen wouldn’t hear him.

“Hmm” Michael hummed as he nodded, a mischievous smirk on his face.

“Do you think they won’t mind?” Ashton wondered worriedly.

“You’re right… Maybe some other time.”

But the grin didn’t leave Michael’s face.

Ashton guessed he had to just wait and see what his husband would do. He wasn’t too concerned about it either way, feeling way too high on love to even care about how this day would end. He had Michael, for real and for ever, and that was all that mattered.


End file.
